Category: Artists / Muralists

The ‘Holy Trinity’ fresco by ‘Big-Ugly-Tom’ aka Masaccio

7/7/2025

"I have recently been studying the complicated history of Medieval Europe and the incredible works of the Renaissance Masters, and I was pleasantly reminded of Masaccio’s ‘Holy Trinity’ mural, one of my personal favorites from the Quattrocento period of the early Renaissance, in what is now Italy.

It is one of my favorites not only for it’s masterful and innovative use of the new perspective to create the illusion of depth with it’s lower portion (the ‘Sarcopha-Guy’ ;) coming out into the church-space, and the 3-dimensional decorative architecture with it’s base, columns, pilasters and arch, but also for Masaccio's use of quadrature illusionism to create a virtual barrel-vaulted chapel to enclose the main subject(s)." -RQ

"Masaccio not only uses the newly invented (discovered?) rules of perspective to fool the eye, but he also creates an almost ‘surreal’ trick of the mind, by subtly breaking the rules of perspective he has just convinced us, the viewers, to accept as real… by having his allegorical ‘God-the-Father’ standing at the rear of the chapel/vault area while simultaneously supporting the arms of the crucified Christ, which is clearly mounted in the front of the chapel/vault, under the arch!” -RQ

Art Encyclopedia
Visual Arts of Painting | Sculpture |Architecture
Photography | Ceramics and other crafts

Interpretation of the Holy Trinity by Masaccio

One of the iconic works of Renaissance art, The Holy Trinity with the Virgin and Saint John and donors (1428) can be seen in the Dominican church of Santa Maria Novella, in Florence. Like many religious paintings produced during the Renaissance in Florence, it also has a secular side.

First, it depicts the Trinity of God the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Ghost (symbolized by a white dove); second, it also functions as a commercial portrait of the patron or customer.
The work was commissioned by Domenico Lenzi and his wife, as a mural painting for the family remembrance chapel at Santa Maria Novella.

However, the feature that made it one of the 15th century's most influential Renaissance paintings, is its use of single-point linear perspective to organize its composition.
Its 27-year old creator Tommaso di Giovanni Masaccio (1401-28) was to Early Renaissance painting what Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) was to architecture, and Donatello (1386-1466) to sculpture.

Superb Demonstration of Linear Perspective

The geometric principles of linear perspective - the technique whereby an artist may depict three-dimensional depth on the flat painting surface - appears to have been discovered by Leon Battista Alberti (1404-72) in his treatise Della Pittura (On Painting) published in 1435.

As a science, perspective was associated with optics and the study of vision, but as a pictorial technique it was only properly explored during the Early Renaissance in Florence.
In his Holy Trinity, Masaccio was the first individual of the Florentine Renaissance to properly explore the illusionistic potential of this new technique.

The painting depicts a chapel, whose cavernous interior seems to open up before the viewer. Inside, framed by Ionic columns, Corinthian pilasters and a barrel-vault ceiling, a crucified Christ is overlooked by God and the Holy Spirit, flanked by John the Evangelist and the Virgin Mary. The modelling of these figures is so realistic that they could be statues. Each of them - except for God, the immeasurable entity - occupies their own three-dimensional space.

To cap it all, in front of the pillars which form the entrance to the make-believe chapel, Masaccio portrayed the two donors Domenico Lenzi and his wife. He painted them life-size and in equally realistic detail. The whole trompe l'oeil effect of the chapel and its occupants is a stunning example of how realistic depth can be incorporated into a flat painting.

At the front of the picture, below the level of the chapel floor, there is a sarcophagus on which Adam's skeleton is laid out as a memento mori for the viewer with its inscription "I was once as you are and what I am you also shall be."

Influential
Masaccio's Holy Trinity became a hugely influential painting for generations of Florentine artists. Writing over a century later, the Mannerist artist and biographer Giorgio Vasari (1511-74) was so overwhelmed by Masaccio's perspectival foreshortening that he was convinced there was a hole in the wall containing the make-believe chapel!

In 1570, a stone altar was built in the church of Santa Maria Novella, which led to Masaccio's mural being covered up. As a result, the fresco remained invisible for almost three centuries from 1570 to 1861, until the altar was removed and the painting once again became visible. However, it wasn't until 1952 - when the lower (skeleton) part of the painting was also uncovered - that the entire fresco was put on view.

Masaccio
Within months of completing the work, Masaccio was dead.
His sudden demise put an end to his meteoric 7-year career, during which he had already produced three other masterpieces:

Madonna with St. Anne (c.1423, Uffizi, Florence),
the Pisa Altarpiece Polyptych (c.1426, Staatliche Museen, Berlin), and
the Brancacci Chapel frescoes (c.1425) in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine.

He remains one of the greatest Early Renaissance artists.

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Cholo graffiti in East Los Angeles with Cheech Marin / Part B: Chaz Bojorquez

5/5/2025

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Let’s continue Cheech’s exploration
of the roots of East L.A. graffiti
and his conversation with…

CHAZ BOJÓRQUEZ: "Some people date the first graffiti in LA back to the 1930s, when shoeshine boys would mark their spot on the street by writing their names on the wall. There are tags by the Los Angeles River that date back to the ’40s, painted with sticks and tar. Before spray cans were invented, most of the graffiti was made with paint and brush."

"Chicano gangs were originally formed for protection, in response to racism. When people think of LA gangs, they usually think of drug dealing and violence, but the Chicano gangs were originally more about taking pride in a neighborhood.

By 1943, when the riots happened against the Latino zoot suiters, it created the foundations for the Cholo culture. Graffiti was a way to define your identity and say, “This is Latino territory.” This is our roll call, our names written on the wall—that’s what’s called a "placa". Placas are usually placed at the edge of a neighborhood, marking the territory for an individual gang. It says, “This is ours.” When I see a tag, I see a complaint; I see a whole bunch of tags, I see a petition."

"I lived in the neighborhood of the Avenues gang. I was not a gangster, I was a hippie, my cousins were gangsters in prison, and my friends were surfers—but we were all the same, there wasn’t a distinction that you had to be a gangster to tag. We were always at the same liquor store tagging. You could tell the little guys by the bad handwriting, and they would write low, at eye level. And the older guys, they would write bigger and taller. But was it about being the highest and all that? No, that was not the case. Your tag was allegiance to your community. You never went out of your neighborhood to tag.

"The gangs used Old English type because it was seen as the most prestigious. It was on your birth certificate, the newspaper—the LA Times."

MARIN: "It’s a co-opting of legitimacy and a form of code-switching. Switching from one language to another, one culture to another—the formality and the prestige of that and adapting it to your own style—you say two things at the same time."

BOJÓRQUEZ: "And then there’s that other style, ‘Teen Angel’. It’s a script, for tattoos and drawings. We used to write beautiful script letters on the side and back windows of lowrider cars, you know, words like “Pillow Talk” or “Sad Boy,” all that stuff."

MARIN: “I’m so tired of being alone.”

BOJÓRQUEZ: “They use ‘Teen Angel’ for tattoos across the neck. But it would never go up on the walls; nobody does that in the streets.”

MARIN: "You were studying art while you were tagging, right?"

BOJÓRQUEZ: "I started taking art classes when I was about fourteen years old, before I was tagging. I was very aware of the art scene of the time—Andy Warhol, the Ferus Gallery guys—but I did not see a Latino face. Then I was going to the Chouinard School of Art in ’67, and again I was very disappointed because I did not see a Latino face anywhere. That’s why I started tagging—for myself."

MARIN: “In 1972, the Chicano art collective Asco tagged the outside of LACMA, because the museum didn’t show Chicano artists. Two years later, the museum gave another Chicano group, Los Four, a show. But for the museum, it was barbarians at the gate. It was, “Okay, we’ve shown it once, you’ve had your day.”

BOJÓRQUEZ: "Exactly. In art school, I became disillusioned.
I wasn’t getting support from my art teachers or anything like that, I was getting kicked out of school because they didn’t see any value in my fine-art work. So, I said, fuck school, I’m just gonna go back to graffiti at night.

That’s when I came up with the image of Señor Suerte. It mixes a lot of different styles from the ’60s. The skull, of course, is Mexican, from Día de los Muertos. But also at that time, there was the black civil rights movement—I copied that look you saw in movies in the 1970s, like Shaft and Super Fly, with the pimp daddy hat, the fur collar. I liked that look."

MARIN: "Who doesn’t like that look?"

BOJÓRQUEZ: "I was smoking a lot of dope, so the first drawing had a joint, but then I thought, I’m not gonna put drugs in the street, that’s disrespectful. You know, it was the Latino morality. So I crossed his fingers and took the joint out."

"The first time I tagged my skull symbol I did it freehand with a spray can, and it came out badly. So I turned to the latest technology of the ’60s—plastics—to cut out a stencil with more detail and total control. My first tag was on the 110 Freeway from downtown LA to Pasadena, when you’re coming out of the freeway tunnels; I tagged the spiral staircase. That was ’69, and it stayed there ’til the Olympics in ’84. Then, about fifteen years after that first tag, I started seeing it tattooed on gangsters from the Avenues gang. It’s become a symbol of protection: If you get shot and have the skull tattooed on you, it will protect you from death. So since then, I put it away, I don’t make T-shirts, I don’t make nothing—it belongs to them, because they live and die for it. It’d be stupid to commercialize that image."

MARIN: "Is danger part of graffiti? The more dangerous and hard to do, the better—to put it in the spot where you know the guy is fucking rappelling off something to get there?"

BOJÓRQUEZ: "That’s the style from New York. It’s been taken up by new guys, but that’s not West Coast Cholo. I only tagged in Highland Park, I never went out of Highland Park. One time I did Hollywood because I worked at this job, but otherwise when I see young kids hitting all over the place, that’s New York mentality—me, me, me. It wasn’t our tradition. One writer would write for the group, and our tags were about us."

MARIN: "Real little micro-neighborhoods, man. And essentially that particular gang that was in that neighborhood lived and died for their four-square blocks."

BOJÓRQUEZ: "It’s clannish, it’s really clannish."

MARIN: "So at the moment that mass transit comes in, that separates it from marking territory?"

BOJÓRQUEZ: "I don’t see gangsters on trains. I’ve never hit a train. I never see trains."

MARIN: "Well, buses."

BOJÓRQUEZ: "Tagging buses, that’s a younger man’s game, from the 1990s. We never hit buses. We didn’t hit churches or buses. When New York–style graffiti started coming in here about the mid-1980s, all the young kids went all New York gaga. The documentary Style Wars came out in ’84, and it changed overnight. There was the excitement of the world movement out of New York.
But I want to say that New York was the first to take graffiti to heart because they took their pieces and put a frame around it and made a gallery, the FUN Gallery and all of that.
And they changed it into a product—like Haring with his Pop Shop. But it didn’t last. New York is all about “Been there, done it, next thing.” Then there were the anti-graffiti laws, and that closed off the subways. What happened over here was, it just stayed gangster."

MARIN: “Is that a good thing? Are we supposed to think globally or should we cling to the specificity of our four blocks?”

BOJÓRQUEZ: “What’s unique about LA is that we bring our culture into our graffiti. Cholo culture is Mexican-American culture, and our style carries our culture. To the world graffiti movement—99.9 percent New York–influenced—Cholo is a subculture on the West Coast, but we choose to write with cultural pride in our letters and that’s our strength.”

MARIN:”But I think it’s gonna be impossible with every generation, ’cause every generation of kids will interpret it in their own style. Who gets to define what Chicano is? Every generation of Chicanos defines what it means to be Chicano for them, and they have just as much right to say it as a Chicano that grew up in the ’40s does.
The biggest controversy I had when I exhibited my art collection under the title Chicano Vision was using the word "Chicano". “Can we call it Mexican-American art, or Hispanic art, anything but Chicano art?” By definition, it was not art if a Chicano did it; it was agitprop. At the same time, the radical political activist Chicanos, they didn’t want anybody else using that name but them. I was just a fuckin’ dope-smoking comedian. Those Chicanos thought they made up the term in 1968. But I thought, hey, that’s finally a term that defines who I am. I’m not a Mexican, I hated Mexican-American, Hispanic, fuck that. I’m a Chicano.”

Los Angelenos/Chicano Painters of L.A.:
Selections from the Cheech Marin Collection

The Cheech Marin collection is notable for classic examples of Chicano art produced from the inception of the Chicano movement to the present, with a concentration in painting from the 1980s and 90s. This exhibition includes a number of widely exhibited works by such first-generation Chicano artists as Carlos Almaraz, Margaret Garcia, Gilbert “Magu” Luján, Frank Romero, John Valadez, and Patssi Valdez, whose artistic careers began during the Chicano civil rights movement in the mid-1960s to mid-1970s, as well as works by such younger artists as Vincent Valdez and David Flury. Los Angelenos/Chicano Painters of L.A. is a Los Angeles-focused selection of Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge, an exhibition of the Marin collection that toured nationally between 2001 and 2007.

BOJÓRQUEZ: “I fought for that word "Chicano". And I believe that Cholo graffiti is Chicano art. Chicanos were the hard ones to convince. They said it was anti-Chicano because Chicano was family, religion, farmworkers, border and migration issues, not this bad-boy stuff— “it undermines what we’re doing, it’s not art.” I started out as just a tagger, but then I came to define myself as a graffiti artist—and I really had to defend that word "artist". Now I don’t just work in the arts, I do graphic design—I work in culture.
But the only way to stay where I’m at is to stay pure. I’m always going back to the original letters of Old English to build my foundation, but I include my own style of control of Asian calligraphy. I like the traditions of Cholo and the expressive spirit from Asian philosophy. I came back to my community feeling more like I better get up in my four blocks. I constantly ask myself, how can I paint more pride or strength—how do I add balls to my letters?”

Chaz Bojórquez (b. 1949, Los Angeles)
grew up in Highland Park, where he created a graffiti icon that was adopted by the local gang.
Bojórquez first encountered graffiti as a young boy while exploring the concrete riverbeds of the Los Angeles River.
The markings he found there introduced him to the Cholo graffiti that Chicano Angelenos had been developing since the 1930s. While a student at Chouinard Art Institute (now CalArts) in the 1960s, he developed his signature character, a stenciled, fedora-wearing skull named Señor Suerte.

Bojórquez’s position as one of the city’s premier Cholo graffiti artists was cemented in 1975 with the publication of photographer Gusmano Cesaretti’s book:
Street Writers: A Guided Tour of Chicano Graffiti.

Working on canvas since 1979, Bojórquez mixes powerful variations on Cholo fonts, informed by his study of Asian calligraphy, with the iconography of the Day of the Dead and other traditional Mexican folk imagery.
An elder statesman of the Los Angeles street scene, he has exhibited widely and has worked on numerous graphic design projects. The monograph
The Art and Life of Chaz Bojórquez
was published in 2010.

CHAZ BOJÓRQUEZ
Draws his inspiration from Los Angeles where he was born, grew up and still lives. He received formal art training at Guadalajara University of Art in Mexico, California State University Los Angeles and the Chouinard Art Institute now known as Cal Arts.
Under Chinese Calligraphy Master Yun Chung Chiang, Chaz developed a deep understanding for written language. He worked as a commercial artist in advertising and film before concentrating on painting.
Chaz is the “Godfather of Los Angeles Graffiti Art”.

“I put 50 years in of writing. I am an Original. We started this stuff. We not only had the best book... but, it was the very first book” –– Chaz Bojórquez

https://streetwriters.com/pages/the-artist
ARTE POVERA FOTO BOOKS
Independent publishing company dedicated to releasing limited edition photography books rooted in culture.

https://streetwriters.com/pages/contact-media-inquiries
CONTACT
Arte Povera Foto Books, Inc.
PO Box 421203
Los Angeles, CA 90042
Email: [email protected]

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Laurence Linkus: Posthumous Art Exhibition!!

3/24/2025

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(Cheech Marin’s interviews with Cholo Graffiti Artists will have to wait!)

This exciting
Art Show
announcement
just came across my desk!

!Come one!
!Come ALL!
Come and enjoy Link’s Art!
Haggle! Barter! Bid! Brawl!
-!! Make an Offer !!-

Original Paintings! Drawings! Sketches!
Prints! Illustrations! Photography!

This is a FANTASTIC opportunity
to see what may be the last exhibition
(in the U.S.)
of this World Famous Artist’s
Fine-Art Corpus!!

Link and Bonnie’s daughter, Daena,
doesn’t want to have to ship
all of Link's AMAZING art-work
back to Germany!!
She would much rather have it all go to friends, colleagues and patrons
who will enjoy and cherish it!

RSVP to Daena’s eMail: [email protected]

(or just CRASH the party!
That’s what Link would do!)

"Do I need to remind you all of what happens to the $-VALUE-$ of the works of
Dead-Genius-Artists!?!"

600 Maulhardt Ave.
Oxnard, CA 93030

And
since this is still a "Mural Blog"...
here's a link...
to some of Link's mural work!

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Maxfield Parrish’s ‘Old King Cole’ murals

12/2/2024

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“Here are some fun murals
by one of my favorite artists and muralists,
Maxfield Parrish!
I have received so much joy from studying Parrish’s work,
and I have learned a great deal from his paintings and illustrations, and his compositions!
I especially enjoy his light-heartedness
and the uplifting beauty of his color” -RQ

from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxfield_Parrish
Maxfield Parrish (July 25, 1870 – March 30, 1966)
was an American painter and illustrator active in the first half of the 20th century. He is known for his distinctive saturated hues and idealized neo-classical imagery. His career spanned fifty years and was wildly successful: the National Museum of American Illustration deemed his painting Daybreak (1922) to be the most successful art print of the 20th century.[1]

Maxfield Parrish was approached in 1906 by hotelier John Jacob Astor
(who was later struck down in the sinking of the Titanic) to create a mural to go above the bar at his hotel, The Knickerbocker, on 42nd Street. Though Parrish was a non-drinking Quaker. He relented when Astor offered him $5,000 (the equivalent of $130,000 today) for the work, a small fortune at the time.
Parrish crafted a painting centered on the children’s rhyme about Old King Cole, with Astor painted atop the throne.
Legend has it that Parrish cheekily painted Astor’s King Cole while passing some royal gas, flanked by knowingly smirking attendants.
Though the mural’s time at The Knickerbocker was short lived, Parrish’s Old King Cole mural has been lovingly restored
and remains atop the bar at what is now New York City’s
St. Regis Hotel.

The text below is by
Norman Vanamee
from an article:
Walls of Fame.
from the St. Regis Magazine..

ISSUE 3 – 2014

New York’s murals, scattered in bars and restaurants, mansions and civic buildings, have become partof the city’s fabric. But Maxfield Parrish’s Old King Cole, which sits above the bar of The St. Regis New York, is one of its most beloved
and contains an extraordinary link to the man who commissioned it, John Jacob Astor IV.

– The Back Story –
On a chilly November night last year (2013), about 120 people squeezed into the King Cole Bar and Salon at
The St. Regis New York.
The star of the night was a brilliantly-colored painting, just back from a $100,000 restoration and rehung in its place of honor above the bar where it has presided over similarly
chic events for almost eight decades.
One hundred and ten years ago, John Jacob Astor IV asked a young artist named Maxfield Parrish if he would like to paint a mural to hang in the bar-room of The Knickerbocker Hotel, Astor’s glamorous new flagship on 42nd Street and Broadway in New York City. The fee was $5,000, extremely generous for the time, but it came with caveats.

First, the subject of the painting had to be Old King Cole, and second, while Parrish would have complete artistic freedom in how he depicted the nursery-rhyme character, he had to use Astor as the model for King Cole’s face.

“At first, Parrish wasn’t sure he wanted the job,” explains Laurence Cutler, chairman of the National Museum of American Illustration and an expert on the artist.
“He didn’t like being told he had to do anything.”
Parrish had other concerns as well:
he came from a conservative Quaker family that frowned on alcohol and wasn’t thrilled that his work would hang in a bar. Plus, he had already painted a version of King Cole for the Mask and Wig Club, a private theater club in Philadelphia.

King Cole mural for the Mask and Wig Club by Maxfield Parrish

But Parrish’s father, Stephen Parrish
(1846 – 1938)
an established artist with connections in Philadelphia and
New York society, encouraged him to reconsider.
“Basically, he explained how unadvisable it would be for somebody just starting their career to say no
to somebody like Astor.”

Parrish had recently moved from Philadelphia to Plainfield, New Hampshire, where he and his wife, Lydia, were expanding a small estate they had built
called The Oaks, which they would live in for the rest of their lives. He realized that the fee, the equivalent of $130,000 today, would set them up well and accepted the commission. He began work on Old King Cole in a studio that was
too small to hold the whole mural, so he painted
the three 8 feet x 10 feet panels one at a time.
He placed the king in the center,
flanked by jesters and guards.

It was a more dramatic, less cartoon-like depiction than his first version of Cole for the Mask and Wig Club and,
when it was installed at the hotel in 1906,
it instantly became part of the fabric of a city
and a culture hurtling toward the excitement
and excesses of the Roaring Twenties.
“The Knickerbocker Bar, beamed upon by Maxfield Parrish’s jovial, colorful Old King Cole was well crowded”
wrote F. Scott Fitzgerald in This Side of Paradise.

Parrish picked a good time to accept a mural commission.
At the turn of the century, wealthy industrialists like Astor
were building mansions as quickly as they could
and hiring artists to adorn the walls.
“It was the golden age of American mural painting,” says Glenn Palmer-Smith, a painter
and author of Murals of New York City.

Established artists were able to command huge fees,
but the appeal was more than just financial.
The country had recently glimpsed the nuance and complexity of mural painting at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago,
which featured frescos and murals by some of the US and Europe’s most prominent painters.
American architects and artists were eager to embrace the medium.

Not long after the fair,
ten of the country’s best-known illustrators and painters, including Henry Siddons Mowbray and Robert Lewis Reid, collaborated on a mural depicting the history of law for the lobby of the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division building on Madison Avenue, which opened in 1900. “Can you imagine ten top artists collaborating on anything today?” says Palmer-Smith.

Parrish went on to paint eight additional murals over the course of his long and influential career,
including The Pied Piper in 1909 for the bar at
the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.

But Old King Cole is arguably his most famous. It has all the hallmarks of his later illustrations and prints, including bold, luminous colors, classical architectural forms,
and an impish sense of humor.
“It launched his career,” says Laurence Cutler. “Immediately afterwards he received a commission to illustrate a cover for Harper’s Magazine, and from then on he worked non-stop for the next 40 years.”

When the Knickerbocker closed in 1920, Old King Cole went into storage, then briefly hung in a museum in Chicago,
and was finally installed at The St. Regis, an Astor-owned hotel, in 1932. There, at the heart of Millionaires’ Alley,
as 55th Street was called at the time,
it made the transition from artwork to icon.

Longevity alone might explain the King Cole Bar’s popularity – New York City has been torn down and rebuilt so many times that its residents develop emotional attachments to places and things that survive the constant reinvention. But it is Parrish’s painting that patrons love and return to see over and over again.

“Parrish had a bet with his friends that he could paint absolutely anything,” said Palmer-Smith. “Old King Cole proved it.”

“Here’s another one of my favorite books from my library!” -RQ
(This is my second version. The first one fell apart and got paint all over it!)

Maxfield Parrish
Hardcover – Illustrated,
January 6, 1997
by Coy Ludwig

A compendium of the life and work of Maxfield Parrish,
it is an essential part of a Parrish library. For the collector,
the publisher has included a value guide to some of the products that bear Parrish images.
Examples of Parrish's most famous book illustrations are shown, including selections from Mother Goose in Prose and the Arabian Nights. Also included are his famous magazine covers-from Life, Collier's, Harper's Weekly, etc., as well as all the landscapes that he painted for Brown and Bigelow, who reproduced them as calendars every year from 1936 to 1963.
One of the highlights of the book is the chapter on Parrish's technique, examining in depth his materials, favorite methods, and unique way of painting. In addition, there is a lengthy excerpt from an unpublished manuscript
by Maxfield Parrish, Jr., explaining step-by-step his father's glazing technique and use of photography in his work.
This definitive study also contains numerous revealing excerpts from Parrish's unpublished correspondence with family, friends, and clients.

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Genoski, Atlas, and Saturno

11/4/2024

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Murals On The Street:
Resurrection!!!
And then... once in a while, the Ghost will get restored or repainted or reincarnated
or re-born and resurrected!!!

Here’s what happened when
Genoski and Atlas
from my previous post:
http://www.artandsoulproductions.com/blog/murals-on-the-street-ghosts-genoski-and-atlas
collaborated with
Saturno!
to ReCreate a mural
to replace their last one.

Beyond Colors and Shapes.
A Fusion of Past, Present, and Consciousness.
"My latest project has taken my creativity to new heights, painting a mural of enormous dimensions on the main facade of The Regional Library of Blanes, the Catalan town in Spain, where I grew and flourished as an artist." says Saturno

"This project represents a return to my roots, an opportunity to merge my passion for art with the place that saw me grow.
The artwork has sparked a sense of awe and excitement among locals, unaccustomed to witnessing this type of artistic expression. The creation process has been a spectacle that attracted both the curious and art enthusiasts alike."

"This mural has become a gathering point, a place where the community comes together to admire, discuss, and share their appreciation for art. The interaction with the local audience has profoundly enriched my experience as an artist, witnessing people immerse themselves in the visual narrative I've created, establishing an emotional connection with my work.
More than just an expression of my artistic vision, the mural is also a tribute to the community that witnessed my growth. It's an honor to contribute to Blanes' cultural landscape in this way, reminding everyone of my roots and elevating my art to new heights." -Saturno!

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Murals On The Street: Ghosts!! / ‘Genoski’ and ‘Atlas’

9/2/2024

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Sometimes I come across some really nice mural out there that I want to share with you…
and many times I will document them...
only to have them Painted Out!
Or Tagged over!! Or Defaced!!!
or Destroyed by negligence,
or by time and the weather,
Or Re-Painted!
They have been Ghosted!!
Here is one now!

This one is right around the corner from my home and studio!
(The mural went away and was replaced by another one.)

As far as I can tell, this is a collaboration
between two artists!
Genoski and Atlasgraffiti

Photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter. https://www.flickr.com/photos/atelier_tee

‘Woman and Rose’
at 3404 Union Pacific Avenue in the Boyle Heights,
Los Angeles, California.
Mural by:
Gino Genoski Gaspara aka @genoski
Gino is a resident artist at Klockwork Tattoo Club.
He is a very talented Tattoo Artist and is very open to tattooing different styles and isn't afraid of large scale graffiti projects.

- and -

Atlasgraffiti aka @atlasgraffiti
Rick Ordonez,
also known as Atlas and known colloquially as
the "kitty cat tagger," is an
American graphic designer and graffiti artist
from Alhambra, California.[1]

In early 2010, Atlas transitioned from creating large ornate graphics to drawing stylized cats, particularly on or near
Pasadena Freeways.
In an article for LA Weekly, Ordonez was described as
a “cat-lover" who kept cats as pets.

Atlas: Los Angeles Graffiti Documentary (2005)

Later that year, Atlas got his own show entitled "Rick Ordonez: Kitty Litter" at Mid-City Arts in November 2010.
Gallery manager Medvin “Med” Sobio stated "I saw them and thought it was something completely different. Everybody’s out there doing big, bad graffiti things [to show that] 'I’m a big, bad guy,’ and here he is, doing cats." Ordonez remained anonymous for the show.

Here is a good interview with Atlas about his career as a Vet, VFW, Graffiti Artist and his transition into Fine Art.

THE CORNERSTORE
Atlas | Transitioning from graffiti to fine art.

And a documentary about his platoon from:

THE WOUNDED PLATOON

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Update to: 21 Murals for Uvalde, Texas

8/30/2024

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! BRAVO !

"I just received word that a featured artist
from this blog, helped to sponsor
the 'Healing Uvalde' Mural Project!
by selling two (2!) of his paintings!!
and contributing the proceeds
for the painting of the murals project!!"

!BRAVO!
!! Joe Bravo !!

“Roberto, Attached are the two paintings that were purchased by Jaime Casillas of Oxnard.
The proceeds went towards funding the mural project
in Uvalde to paint portraits of all the students who were killed.
Feel free to post on your blog.
Saludos," -Joe Bravo

Joe was featured here
(4-1-2024)
for his “Water is Life” mural,
in Highland Park.
http://www.artandsoulproductions.com/blog/joe-bravo-water-is-life-mural

“Nice Job, Joe!
Bravo!!” -RQ

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21 Murals for Uvalde, Texas

8/5/2024

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“Art Saves Lives!”

“Well, sadly, not in this case…
But these murals not only serve as a remembrance of the many innocent victims of the Robb Elementary School Shooting in Uvalde, Texas,
but they give witness to the people and places impacted by gun violence all across the United States.
I was going to post this in a series of blogs and stretch this important topic out over several months.
After all, 21 murals and nearly 27 artists
is a lot to digest all at once!
However...
the impact of 21 senselessly lost lives is too horrible
to be diluted over several posts.
They were all taken in 77 minutes!
So here they are, all together!

I am dedicating this post to all of our
Legislators and Representatives,
and especially to our
’Supreme’ Court Justices
and their recent cowardly and shameful ruling
on 'bump'-stock gun legislation.”
-Roberto Quintana

In Remembrance of
the Robb Elementary School
Shooting Victims

“I know that art heals, that art can calm,
that art can point us in a positive direction.” -Abel Ortiz

The idea for the 21 portrait murals came from Uvalde resident Abel Ortiz, an artist, art professor at Southwest Texas Junior College, and founder of Art Lab, a local art space.

“I thought it was going to be one mural,”…
“No, you know what? I’m thinking twenty-one murals!
It needs to be monumental!
It needs to be across town,
and not just in one place.
And so, the idea was born.” -Abel Ortiz

At the same time, future collaborators,
psychologist and art collector Dr. George Meza
and Monica Maldonado, founder of MAS Cultura,
were thinking about how art could benefit the community.

Before the portrait murals, Maldonado had worked with artists to complete three “Uvalde Strong” murals.
Soon after, Maldonado and Ortiz were connected and Maldonado joined as Project Manager.
Dr. Meza and Abel were already in contact and the three joined forces on the mural effort.
Dr. Meza spearheaded their fundraising efforts to raise more than $30,000 through his Facebook group "Collectors of Chicano/Latinx Art and Allies."
Together the trio made the idea of 21 portrait murals a reality and actualized the Healing Uvalde Mural project.

“…I kind of knew, you know, we needed to get people on their feet on the ground doing something very concrete and specific and that was going to be the murals, and that’s why I called them the ‘healing murals’ because with trauma there are many pathways to healing.” -Dr. George Meza

Mural Project Remembers Uvalde’s Lost Lives
by Tiffany Hearsey May 23, 2024

UVALDE, Texas — Heavy rains blanketed the small town of Uvalde, Texas, the night of the horrific mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. Uvalde resident Abel Ortiz recalled of the downpour, “it’s almost like the heavens opened up and all the tears came down.” On the morning of May 24, 2022, a gunman entered the school, killing 19 children and two teachers and injuring 17 others. Ortiz, an artist, and art professor at Southwest Texas Junior College, wanted to do something to help the families and community. Drawing on his artistic background, he spearheaded the Healing Uvalde Mural Project, a series of portraits of the victims displayed across buildings in downtown Uvalde. The murals, he explained, “were intended to provide comfort for the families,” and offer “a sense of calm, a sense of reflection.” They not only serve as a remembrance of the victims, but bear witness to the people and places impacted by gun violence in Uvalde and across the United States. Ortiz surmised, “the community can respond to the mural, to the image, reflect, contemplate, and think about possible changes. The lives of the children and teachers honored in the Healing Uvalde Mural Project were neither the first casualties of gun violence nor the last. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), gun violence is the leading cause of death among children and teens. Ortiz said, “If there’s any art that I wish didn’t exist, [it] is this art, because that means the kids would be alive.”

Ortiz partnered with Monica Maldonado, founder of Austin-based nonprofit MAS Cultura, who acted as program manager. She brought 50 Texan artists to Uvalde in the months following the shooting to paint the 21 murals, all volunteering their time and services, free of charge. The families of the victims gave their permission for the project, and many participated in the creation of the murals of their loved ones. Each image tells a story about one life — the person’s hobbies, hopes, and dreams, and the family and friends they loved and who loved them — through re-creations of the children’s drawings, ranging from rainbows and cartoon characters to sea creatures and puppies, signifying dreams of becoming a marine biologist or veterinarian, to lyrics of favorite songs, among other tributes.

Tess Marie Mata
age: 10
Mural by Anat Ronen

“In the bracelet, there was a little butterfly charm that didn’t really register as such in the original reference. While I was painting, I asked Veronica if there’s something else that might be more important, more meaningful, that I could replace it with. She said, yes, actually there’s this heart charm her grandmother gifted her and let’s see if you can integrate that...And the next day I put it in...It's the little things that mean a lot at the end.” -Anat Ronen

Xavier James Lopez
age:10
Mural by Amado Castillo III

“When Felicia (Xavier’s mom) sent me pictures, I noticed that he was always wearing a shirt of the bear, so I asked the mom about the bear t-shirts. And she said, “Oh, man, they were his favorite... I would buy them at DD’s Discount fashion store and he would wear those until they were faded." -Monica Maldonado

Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez age: 10
Mural by Joey “WiseOne” Martinez

“Annabell was an honor roll student and she took a lot of pride in that. She took school seriously, it was an important part of her life that defined who she was. She loved animals and would rescue them. Her hopes and dreams were to become a veterinarian.” -Monica Maldonado

“You can feel the hurt in that community,” artist Joey Martinez reflected when he first came to Uvalde to paint Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez’s mural. “I think it was really important to be there for everybody,” he said. With guidance from Annabell’s family, Martinez included a Uvalde Coyotes logo and a sketch of an A+, a nod to her honor roll credentials — aspects of the 10-year-old’s personality in which loved ones and visitors alike can share. The mural also contains a cell phone with the text “I love you,” which she and her best friend, 10-year-old Xavier James Lopez, would send to each other each night before bedtime. Xavier was also killed in the shooting and his mural sits right next to Annabell’s, their close bond solidified in art. Their union was also honored in death, when the two families buried the children next to each other.

Makenna Lee Elrod
age: 10
Mural by Silvia "Silvy" Ochoa and
Courtney Jimenez / Courtney Arte

“Murals,” artist Silvia “Silvy” Ochoa said, “are beautiful tools to communicate.” She added, “They can make you feel, can help you remember.” Ochoa’s painting of 10-year-old Makenna Lee Elrod is an array of positive memories and symbolic imagery that aims to heal the traumatic memories surrounding her death. “Trauma” comes from the Greek word meaning “piercing” or “wounding.” Through art, a mending of the wounds can occur. Ochoa’s mural depicts Makenna in the bucolic farm where she grew up, surrounded by three butterflies that represent her and her parents, and four trees that symbolize her and her siblings. But it’s the rainbow adorning her shirt that stands out. Makenna’s parents gave Ochoa a photo of their daughter holding a rock with a rainbow she had painted on its surface. Ochoa wanted to include the rainbow on the mural and place it on her chest, and invited each member of Makenna’s family to paint the rainbow. After the portrait was completed, the family shared with Ochoa that Makenna had been shot in the chest. “That’s where she lost her life,” Ochoa told me through tears. “Her family gave her life on the mural in the same place.”

Layla Marie Salazar
age: 11
Mural by Alvaro Deko Zermeño

Alvaro Deko Zermeño’s Artist Statement:
There are no words to describe the level of pain that Uvalde has gone through so being able to use art to try and bring even the smallest bit of comfort to the families, to the community was worth every minute in the sun. It was an honor to meet the Salazar family and hear about Layla.
Layla was energetic and quick to entertain her family and friends. She loved track and because of her drive and focus, she was one of the fastest in her class.
The mural took 5 days to complete and there were times that it was difficult to look at her photo, knowing that the mural would barely scratch the surface of who she was.
On Día de los Muertos, we find ourselves at a point where grief and celebration meet. I hope that the families and the city of Uvalde know that we stand beside them and that their children will never be forgotten.

Jose Manuel Flores Jr.
age: 10
Mural by Albert “Tino” Ortega

“Jose had a big heart and lots of love for the game of baseball. I did the stars coming out from his chest so the stars that are on each side of him, they pretty much call us back to where his heart is, just to signify his love for the game.” -Tino Ortega

Eliahna Cruz Torres
age: 10
Mural by Filiberto Mendieta
Assisted by Nikki Diaz

“It was her first year playing softball.
She was a natural athlete and didn’t even know it...Once she started playing, she became obsessed with the sport and practiced every day. The day of the tragedy Eliahna would’ve found out that she made the All-Star team... Also, there is a cat at the bottom...the cat’s name is Dexter and when Eliahna passed away, he didn’t leave her room for two weeks, he waited for her.” -Monica Maldonado

Uziyah Sergio Garcia
age: 10
Mural by Richard Samuel

Richard Samuel’s Artist Statement:
My Brother
I'm not even sure where to start. The emotion and experience that comes with being a part of a project like Healing Uvalde is life-changing. It’s an opportunity I dropped everything for. I was perfectly matched up to paint Uziyah. A beautiful soul whom I had so much in common with. I learned we both love spiderman, and gaming, are very athletic, love sports, and express unwavering loyalty and love to our loved ones. It was almost as if we were one in a parallel universe. Meeting Uziyah's family, hearing their beautiful memories, and also reconnections through dreams provided me with all the inspiration possible to complete the mural. The amount of appreciation the town of Uvalde had for this project is mind-blowing. Literally, every 5 minutes painting, another car passed by thanking us, asking if we needed water or food. Some cried, some smiled, and some shared beautiful stories. By the time I was ready to leave Uvalde, I realized that this is the best thing I've ever done in my life. I hope my little brothers in heaven welcomed him with open arms because he's one with us. Gone but never forgotten.

Jayce Carmelo Luevanos
age: 10
Mural by Ruben Esquivel

Ruben Esquivel’s Artist Statement:
Jayce Luevanos loved dinosaurs and ninjas. His favorite colors were blue and green and he loved making coffee for his family in the mornings. Jayce would write love letters for his loved ones and sign them with “I love you!”
It was important to me that his family be part of the process and felt included in the mural. I reached out and asked to be connected directly with the family. We had a few phone calls and talked about things that Jayce loved, his family shared some memories and together we began conceptualizing the design. The month leading up to my arrival in Uvalde was nerve-racking. When the time came, I was nervous to finally meet Jayce’s family but they greeted me with open arms and with no hesitation and treated me as one of their own. We were family. His siblings were eager to assist me and helped me paint parts of the mural; After all, this piece is as much theirs as it is mine.
The outpouring support from Jayce’s family and the entire community was humbling and unlike anything I have ever experienced. Jayce’s family would spend every evening and sometimes into the early hours of the morning with me, watching me paint as I poured my heart and soul into his mural. I wanted to create a space where Jayce’s friends, family and even strangers could come to spend time with him, see him, talk to him, and feel his presence. A place for healing. I wanted his family to be able to come see that sweet sparkle in his eye whenever they needed to.

Jacklyn “Jackie” Jaylen Cazares age: 9
Mural by Kimie Flores

“Javier [Jackie’s father] really wanted the Eiffel Tower.
... At that point, we didn’t even have the Eiffel Tower on the mural and originally didn’t understand the importance of it. Then one day I was invited to the family’s home and when Javier opened the door to her bedroom all I could see was the Eiffel Tower everywhere. She had the Eiffel Tower on her bedspread, Eiffel Tower paintings, and an Eiffel Tower jewelry holder. Her dream was to go to Paris to the Eiffel Tower. ... I called Kimie and said we have to add the Eiffel Tower to the mural” -Monica Maldonado

Maranda Gail Mathis
age: 11
Mural By Luis Angulo

Luis Angulo’s Artist Statement:
“Maranda is described as a shy kid who liked being in nature, picking-up river rocks and feathers. I received a picture of Miranda standing in a creek facing the camera. Her arms are outstretched as she shows the camera the river rocks she found. I took this image and added more elements to it, trying to imagine a place that Maranda would have liked to explore. In her hands instead of river rocks, she has an Amethyst crystal, her mom's birthstone. In the water are eleven Koi fish, the same age Maranda was at the time of her passing.”

Alexandria “Lexi” Aniyah Rubio age: 10
Mural by Ruben Esquivel
and Carmen Rangel

Artist Statement:
We wanted to portray the most authentic Lexi, so we reached out to those that know her best, her family. We learned that Lexi loved sunflowers and butterflies, she was a proud Libra and force to be reckoned with. Like her mother, she dreamt of attending St. Mary’s University and of one day becoming a lawyer. She played basketball and softball and had a fondness for math. Lexi and her five siblings were like peas in a pod. All of this is illustrated in Lexis larger than life mural in Uvalde, Texas.

Alithia Haven Ramirez
age: 10
Mural by Juan Velásquez
Assisted by Sarah Ayala

Juan Velázquez’s Artist Statement:
Me and @sarahrayala [Sarah Ayala] got to meet Alithia Ramirez's dad and for me it was the most emotional part of the trip, I didn’t know what to say so I just told him “I’m so sorry” He liked the mural and specially that one of the characters we painted on her shirt was from a Father’s Day card she made for him. He said she wanted to be an artist and now her art (the characters on her shirt) are in a mural.

Eliahna “Ellie” Amyah Garcia age: 9
Mural by Abel Ortiz

"Because she won the basketball championship the Saturday before, so I decided to make it into a sports card design and at the bottom, it says “all-star”...She does have the number 21 on her jersey. That was her actual number, twenty-one, that was her mom’s birthday and that’s why she chose that number when she was in the basketball team." -Abel Ortiz

Rojelio Fernandez Torres
age: 10
Mural by Floyd Mendoza
and Jesse de Leon

Floyd Mendoza’s Artist Statement:
I had only known Jesse de Leon for about a week when we found ourselves in front of a blank wall in Uvalde. Our plan was for Jesse to cover the characters, while I tackled the portrait. To my surprise, Rogelio’s family was so hospitable. My first memory I have of Rogelio’s mother, Evadulia and her sisters was them unloading a cooler of water for us. However, it wasn't until I wrapped up Rogelio’s facial features that I began to see the family open up. In which Evadulia stated “it's like he's standing in front of me.” As we made progress on the wall, it was as though this family was healing before our very eyes. They went from being quiet that morning, to laughing and playing music that same night. I was amazed at how this family was so united and close throughout this project. I’m super honored to have been able to contribute to this project.

Jesse de Leon’s Artist Statement:
To have the privilege to use my gift and passion for this Uvalde project, was humbling. To create this memorial for this angel Rojelio Torres, was life changing. Speaking to his aunt Precious she gave me insight on who he was and what the family envisioned. She spoke of his love for Pokemon cards and playing football with his cousins. He was the life of the party and was always the first on the dance floor! He was a gifted child who was so giving and loved his friends and family.

Maite Yuleana Rodriguez
age: 10
Mural by Ana Hernandez

“We decided to give the mural an oceanic theme since Maite wanted to be a marine biologist. Maite Yuleana Rodriguez was smart, compassionate, loved science, animals, the color green, Attack on Titan and had just taught herself to sew.” -Ana Hernandez

Amerie Jo Garza
age: 10
Mural by Cristina Noriega

"My own daughter Paloma was born only 4 days before Amerie and is also a girl scout, an artist, and a sweet girl who is a friend to everyone. The similarities gutted me in a way that words cannot explain. Painting Amerie and bringing some healing to her family also helped heal my own grief over the unfathomable loss." -Cristina Noriega

Nevaeh Alyssa Bravo
age: 10
Mural by Brittany “Britt” Johnson

Britt Johnson’s Artist Statement:
The mural for Nevaeh Bravo is a collaboration between me (Britt Johnson), Efren “ER” Rebugio, and Nevaeh. One of the first things the family shared with us was Nevaeh's kindred love of painting and drawing. We felt connected to Nevaeh in this way. They provided images of her drawings which included a heart, two birds, a rose, and a handwritten note that reads “I love you.” We knew how important Nevaeh’s drawings were to the family, so we recreated them to be prominent in the background. We also incorporated some of her favorite things like the colors purple and pink, butterflies, softball, and the TikTok symbol. To complement the symbol, there is a comment box that can be used by Nevaeh’s family to write messages to her. In the mural a third bird was added that symbolizes Nevaeh’s two brothers and one sister. The two roses symbolize Mom and Dad. Nevaeh’s portrait is nestled in between both elements to signify the embracement of her family. Curls cascade over her shoulder to show the way she loved to wear her hair. It was an honor to paint for the Bravo family. We are grateful for their kindness and patience throughout the process, and we enjoyed their company while we painted, especially hanging with our dog Charlie. They are always in our thoughts and prayers.

Jalilah Nicole Silguero
age: 10
Mural by Albert “Tino” Ortega

Albert “Tino” Ortega’s Artist Statement:
The subject matter of Jailah Nicole Silguero mural was selected in part for the similarities with my own daughter.
The process of creating the portrait was done in collaboration with Jailah’s family to celebrate her likes and interests.
The halo and glowing light represent a sense of passing and purity. Her family was able to partake in the creation of the mural in hopes to bring a feeling of inclusion in the memorial of their daughter and sister.

Irma Linda and Joe Garcia
Mural by Cease Martinez

Cease Martinez’s Artist Statement:
When researching to do this mural I discovered that Irma LOVED being a teacher and loved her students. I learned that she was a great mother and had been with her high school sweetheart, Joe, coming up on 25 years. Speaking to family and friends, I found out they were practically inseparable. Sadly, this was true even in death. This was the inspiration for painting them in a niche box, often used for devotion or alters. I named it "Amor Eternal" or eternal love. We were blessed to have several of Irma and Joe's friends and family stop by during the process, providing stories of their love.

I wanted to include a quote or scripture on part of the wall space. Their daughter gracefully provided a lyric from one of their favorite songs bringing it all together.

Eva Mireles
Mural by Sandra Gonzalez

Sandra Gonzalez’s Artist Statement:
As a teacher and a muralist, it was important for me to honor the life of a teacher who was passionate about education and died as a hero.

“On the morning of July 23rd, a week after Eva’s mural was painted, I drove up to the mural location and noticed two ladies sitting across from Eva’s mural. I assumed that they were volunteers and approached them. It turned out it was Eva’s best friends, Katie and Lilly. They looked at me and said, “we’re having coffee with Eva”. They shared stories, a particular one about Eva doing Karaoke to Diamonds by Rihanna.” -Monica Maldonado

These murals, as remembrances, also tell the story
of lives violently cut short.
At a memorial to the victims in downtown Uvalde,
a resident expressed her opposition to them.
They’re painful to look at, she explained.
“The families shouldn’t see their kids like that …
they should have seen them grow up.”

The 21 Healing Murals tower over Uvalde’s landscape, greeting all who gaze upon them
with warmth and benevolence.
They aim to provide healing for the families and community through remembrance of the lives taken.
As they honor the victims, they also bear witness to the gun violence that brought about the project,
violence that, two years after the shooting, has continued across the nation.
Ortiz said, “As you walk from one mural to the next,
it’s almost like you’re stitching a wound,”
but, he added,
“Unfortunately, that wound reopens
every time there’s a new shooting.”

One of the country’s deadliest mass shootings,
the Robb Elementary shooting was also one of the greatest law enforcement response failures.
While an 18-year-old former student armed with
an AR-15-style assault rifle stalked the halls and classrooms for 77 minutes, nearly 400 law enforcement officers,
including US Border Patrol agents and state and local police, remained outside the school, even as children called 911 from their classrooms for help.
A Department of Justice report described the response as “cascading failures.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland said,
“lives would have been saved and people would have survived,” if law enforcement agencies had followed generally accepted practices and gone immediately into the school
to apprehend the shooter.
As of May 22, families of the students and teachers killed or injured at the school settled a lawsuit with the city of Uvalde for $2 million and are suing
92 officers with the school district,
individual employees,
and
the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Related:
Through Art, Texans Memorialize Victims of Uvalde Shooting June 7, 2022

Google Doodle Shares Artwork by 10-Year-Old Uvalde Shooting Victim July 18, 2022

Abstractions That Epitomize the US’s Inherent Violence
July 24, 2023

Tiffany Hearsey
Tiffany Hearsey is a freelance journalist.
She covers criminal justice and the occasional horror flick. Visit her website at tiffanyhearsey.com.

More by Tiffany Hearsey https://hyperallergic.com/author/tiffany-hearsey/

The murals and artists can all be found
here.

2 Comments

Joerael / One Down Dog Mural

7/1/2024

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!Murals On The Street!
Often I come across some really nice mural
or hand painted sign out there
that I want to share with you!
Here’s another One…
( ...Down Dog that is!)

One Down Dog Mural
- By -

J o e r a e l

"Working with Joerael is a magical, creative and collaborative experience. He has consistently exceeded anything I could have ever dreamed up. Each time I've expanded my business Joerael has come to make it more beautiful, and each time I am blown away by his creations. His work is intentional and inspiring and it breathes life into otherwise bland spaces. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work with Joerael on many occasions and look forward to our next collaboration...hopefully in the near future!"
-Jessica Rosen, Founder One Down Dog

Yoga + Fitness in Eagle Rock
At the heart of Eagle Rock is our second studio, nestled between and convenient to Glendale, Glassell Park, Highland Park and Pasadena, the middle child that we love oh-so-much. Our signature ODD graffiti marks the spot and you’ll find a friendly staff member ready to greet you at the end of a long hallway. If a place could make an expression, our Eagle Rock studio would constantly smile.

MORE
- j o e r a e l -
MURALS
Selected murals throughout the US.

"imprinting dimensional states of being"
WASHINGTON,DC 2018

Joerael's epic mural at The Corcoran School of the Arts and Design. This mural spans the length of 2,052 square feet and artistically shares the history of the local Piscataway Tribe.
The Piscataway are 'the people where the rivers bend' and call the DC Bay Area their homeland.

This work was created in collaboration with members of the Piscataway Tribe. The mural is in honor of the Piscataway people whose ancestral land is currently the United States capital. This work touches upon the complexities and histories of indigenous activism in the DC bay area. Joerael took his time and made sure to hold himself accountable to in-depth research and interviews with the tribe Sebi and Gabrielle Tayac of the Piscataway tribe. Joerael developed relations and learned about the tribe's roots in activism. Joerael also included in each design the diversity of the tribe and the resilience of survival.

A deep bow of gratitude for Piscataway Tribal members
Sebi Tayac and Gabrielle Tayac.
Their contributions, time, and stories supported manifesting the mural into reality.

Sky Railway
SANTA FE,NM 2020-2021

Dragon and Wolf murals for Sky Railway in Santa Fe.
photos by Micha Gallegos.

CONTACT
Joerael is available for your next project.

“My work is survival, love, history, and soul and my guiding intentions are to use my art to transform and activate spaces and energy – to be part of the mosaic of transformation – a mosaic of folks standing up for justice and inclusiveness in their way and through their gifts.”
explains Joerael...
“I remember clearly as a boy in San Angelo, Texas, watching on television as the Berlin wall came down, and being captured by the vibrancy and ephemerality of the graffiti, and sensing the transformative effect art can have on a moment in time and the people experiencing it. And that single experience has informed how I approach my role as an artist.”
- JOERAEL NUMINA

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Happy Link-o de Mayo!!

5/5/2024

3 Comments

Happy Birthday (in Memorium)
to my good friend, mentor, partner,
best-critic and sometime frienamie:

Laurence 'Link' Linkus
born May 5, 1952 passed-away in 2018.

“Link's untimely passing has left many beautiful murals and paintings unfinished...
and unpainted.
It has been a pleasure and an honor
to have worked with such a talented painter and artist. Link taught me, inspired me, and challenged me.
Link kept the bar very high...
well stocked, and very well decorated!
As these images (below and here) show,
Link was an incredibly talented, prolific and dedicated artist. He was versatile and worked in many genre, and in many media.
He leaves behind a powerful body of work that I hope to (continue) documenting and share with you all as best I can.
While Link was pretty good at documenting his work with a camera, he never got around to transferring his photos into pixels for this digital media, and consequently never had a website!
As I scan what we have of Link's portfolio I will add his artwork to this slideshow until I have it all better organized and we have a better way of sharing Link's impressive and masterful artwork.
In respectful and loving memory”
-Roberto Quintana de Foster, WFA

“I miss you Bro!” - your pal ‘sQuint’

3 Comments

Joe Bravo: 'Water is Life' mural

4/1/2024

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‘Water is Life’
mural in Highland Park a community effort

Founded in 1893,
'The Occidental' is the official student-run newspaper of Occidental College in Los Angeles, written, published and distributed for students, faculty, staff, parents and community members.

Joe Bravo, a Highland Park-based artist best known for making art on tortillas, said he hopes to visualize California’s ongoing water crisis by making a mural visible to the public.

Bravo found his love for art while growing up in Calexico, California making figurines with mud and swords with scrap wood. Although he is now retired, Bravo continues to use artwork like “Water is Life” to uplift his community.

According to Bravo, this project has been a community effort from the start. He said there were several community meetings where local residents could give their input on the project; additionally, students from Burbank Middle School and art interns from Rock Rose Gallery helped paint the mural, which is located on the wall of Parkside Laundry.

“Parkside Laundry is perfect because it’s right across from the park,” Bravo said. “Murals are usually on a busy street, or they’re really inaccessible to the viewing public, but here, people can come sit down, have a barbecue and enjoy the artwork. So hopefully it will uplift the community.”
For Bravo, painting murals helps brighten up the concrete community.
“I want it to be a total community involvement, It was a good experience to see different aspects [of] the community [members] who wanted to participate.”

Standing on top of a scaffold in Highland Park on the side of Parkside Laundry on Avenue 63, wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat and clothes covered with specks of orange, blue and white, artist Joe Bravo applies strokes of green foliage to his mural-in-progress as he talks about his career.

“The Water is Life” mural in the process of being painted in Highland Park in Los Angeles, CA. Nov. 1, 2022. Anna Beatty/The Occidental

"Joe Bravo
is more than just the world's greatest
tortilla artist!"
Written by Cynthia Rebolledo Sep. 21, 2023

"My art is the sum of my life's experiences," the 73-year-old says. He is an accomplished artist many times over: a muralist, a graphic designer, a portrait artist. But what have earned him worldwide attention are his innovations in tortilla art. On large flour tortillas lacquered to preserve them, Bravo paints vivid icons rooted in Mexican heritage: Emiliano Zapata, Che Guevara and the Virgen de Guadalupe. His collections of tortilla art have appeared in local galleries throughout the U.S. and traveled as far as Hong Kong.

Che Guevara, La Virgen de Guadalupe and Emiliano Zapata, acrylic on flour tortillas. Courtesy of Joe Bravo

Using tortillas as a canvas dates back to Bravo's days at Cal State Northridge, when a fortuitous final project for an art class led him on a journey that would become integral to the development of his aesthetic.
Born in San Jose, California, Bravo grew up in the border town of Calexico and spent his childhood crossing the border to Mexicali, where his tías and cousins lived. As a boy with few toys, he constructed slingshots, wood swords and mud figures to keep himself entertained. He moved to Los Angeles County with his family in the early 1960s and attended junior high and high school in the port town of Wilmington.
In college, Bravo joined the Chicano civil rights movement, which he still calls El Movimiento, a distinction that makes it more of a philosophy than mere history. With pieces and installations that were both dynamic and responsive, he joined the wave of artists that documented what was going on. Bravo also served as graphic artist for the student Chicano newspaper, El Popo (first published in 1970 by students concerned about the lack of a Chicana and Chicano perspective in newspapers) and organized the first Chicano art exhibit at CSUN recognized by the art department.
"I like to think that maybe some of my activism contributed towards the change" at the school, Bravo says. Today, CSUN's Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies is the largest of its kind in the country offering all kinds of art classes while examining the identities that inform Chicana visual expression, creative production and cultural activism.

During his time at CSUN, Bravo also had an unconventional art final.
"I had an art project due and I didn't have the money to buy canvas," Bravo says. He had just finished eating breakfast, and his eyes settled on a bag of corn tortillas sitting on the counter. Bravo painted five tortillas with Mayan codices and assembled a hanging mobile. He passed his final but the mobile crumbled to pieces shortly after an encounter with the Santa Ana winds.
After graduating in 1973 with a bachelor's degree, Bravo worked as a commercial graphic designer, freelanced for various advertising agencies and served as art director for Lowrider magazine. In addition to his graphic work, Bravo also painted murals in the late 1970s as an artist-in-residence for the California Arts Council. Among the pieces he worked on: The Wilhall mural at the Wilmington Recreation Center, restoration of The Great Wall of Los Angeles along the L.A. River, and a mural depicting the history of Highland Park that still stands at an AT&T building in the neighborhood.

Bravo eventually reconnected with his tortilla art in 2001 after a conversation with a friend from CSUN. "I remember her saying she thought my college art project was a great political and cultural statement and it got me thinking. I decided to give it another try and started experimenting with different varnishes," he says.
This time, Bravo swapped corn for flour tortillas and went bigger: from 13-inch to 28-inch tortillas. Instead of buying them from a local mercado, he got his tortilla canvases custom-made by Tortilleria San Marcos in Boyle Heights. To prepare them, Bravo singes the flour tortillas over an open flame and applies multiple coats of varnish. The process makes them flexible yet sturdy. He reinforces them by adding a final coat of acrylic, and burlap on the back. The burn marks take on a life of their own, inspiring Bravo's designs.
In recent years, Bravo has devoted more attention to his murals, culminating in large pieces of public art that interweave symbolism and social justice. He aims to preserve and tell stories about the community for future generations. You see it in his Highland Park mural, "Water is Life," with images of trees, bald eagles, and nopales with prickly pears. At the center is Toypurina, an indigenous medicine practitioner that led a rebellion against the San Gabriel Mission in 1785. Even the late P-22 makes an appearance.

"When I get the opportunity to do my own work, especially a mural, I try to put my own passion, opinion and outlook on certain issues into it," Bravo says during a break. "I believe that if God gave us a gift, we're supposed to share it with the rest of the world."
Although he no longer creates much tortilla art –– aside from the occasional commision and his #TortillaTournament appearances –– Bravo's masa mastery runs deep.
When asked what tortilla he prefers to eat, Bravo says without hesitation, "Corn. I like painting on flour but when it comes to eating –– corn. I just like my maíz. It's in my blood."

“I’m just trying to do my part,”
- Joe Bravo

The project is sponsored by:

La Plaza de Cultura y Artes,
501 N Main St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
https://lapca.org/

and
LA Council District 14
Councilman Kevin de Leon
https://councildistrict14.lacity.gov/

and
The Highland Park Neighborhood Council.
https://www.highlandparknc.com/what-is-a-neighborhood-council

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“The Slim Princess” by Robert Thomas, John Knowlton, and Richard Perkins

12/25/2023

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Fifteen of Bishop’s Murals and Their Stories

“The Slim Princess”
by Robert Thomas, John Knowlton and Richard Perkins. 2000
Fendon’s Furniture store, north wall. 13' x 68'

This mural depicts Laws, a thriving railroad depot and community, just outside of Bishop circa 1909.
The railroad line, called the "Slim Princess" by the local population, was a major transportation resource until Highway 395 was paved and improved.
The depot was built in 1883, and served the Owens Valley until April 30, 1959, when the line from Laws to Keeler was abandoned. Laws is now home to:

"Laws Railroad Museum"
175 East Pine Street, Bishop, Ca

Listed on the National Registry of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior, and designated by the State of California as Historical Landmark # 953, the Laws Railroad Museum and Historical Site is not just another train museum.
Located on the site of the Laws Railroad station and rail yard, the land, 1883 depot and other buildings, and the last train, were donated to Inyo County and the City of Bishop by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1960.
At the time that the railroad shut down its operations, the village of Laws which had grown up around the rail yard had disappeared. That village has been recreated by moving in historic buildings from around the Owens Valley.

And… "The Mule Museum"

The original railroad town of Laws had a depot of course, and the Station Agent’s House at Laws has been there since 1883. It did not have a mule barn. The Carson and Colorado Railroad in fact largely took the place of the mule freighters who hauled ore from the Owens Valley mines for more than a decade before steam locomotives appeared on the horizon. But before trains, mules ruled. And a very good job they did indeed.
The Mule Museum at Laws is the culmination of work by the Death Valley Conservancy and others dedicated to the history of the role of mules in the colorful and complex story of Owens Valley history. Bishop, “Mule Capitol of the World,” has hosted the Mule Parade each Memorial Day weekend since 1970, but even many locals are unaware of the astonishing and extensive role mules have played in our local history and culture.
In Owens Valley’s 20 th Century, Mules have hauled equipment and supplies to build the aqueduct to divert water to the City of the Angels, brought materials for the South Lake and Lake Sabrina dams, and hauled construction components for wagon and automobile roads, electrical, telegraphic, and telephone lines. Surrounded by public lands, we have employed mules to build trails for the U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service, and to promote pack trips for tourists visiting these lands. We would not be who we are without the help of these four-footed beasts...

AND…
the “Bottle House”
Whisky, Tea, and Snake Oil... and Fine Dining Too!

The newly opened Bottle House at LAWS is a must-see addition to Inyo County’s Western History. The exhibit in its present form is much more than a collection of colorful glass bottles. The current presentation displays shape, color, and form in the evolution of glass bottles of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Changes in the techniques of bottle- making: blown, molded, or combined approaches, are also evident if one knows what to look for.

If you thought this was a dead-end for FASCINATING ART,
Let me assure you, this is actually a perfect segue
to my latest series of paintings!
Check out my ‘Vessels’Vessel Series series HERE!

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Michelangelo, Underground Graffiti Artist!

12/18/2023

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A Secret Room in a 16th-Century Italian Chapel, Where Michelangelo Hid—and Drew—for Months, Opens to the Public!

by Sarah Cascone, October 31, 2023

Michelangelo is believed to have made the rarely seen drawings while in hiding after the pope sentenced him to death.
Guidebooks to the Italian city of Florence have long noted that the Basilica of San Lorenzo is home to a secret room believed to have been decorated by Michelangelo while the famed Renaissance master was in hiding from the pope for two months in 1530. Now, the chamber, which is part of the the Museum of the Medici Chapels (itself one of the fives sites of the city’s Bargello Museums), will be open to the public for the first time.

“The completion of the works on the new exit and the adaptations to align… with safety regulations, will allow the opening of Michelangelo’s Secret Room—an extraordinarily fascinating place, but extremely delicate due to… the narrow space… and… the need to protect the charcoal drawings found on the walls,” Massimo Osanna, director general of museums in Italy, said in a statement.
The stunning drawings of the Stanza Segreta, or Secret Room, were rediscovered in 1975. That’s when Paolo Dal Poggetto, then director of the Museum of the Medici Chapels, tasked restorer Sabino Giovannoni with trying to clean part of the walls of a narrow chamber beneath the church’s mausoleum, which had been designed by Michelangelo in 1520.
The corridor, measuring about 32 feet long, 10 feet wide, and eight feet tall, had been used it to store coal, until it had been sealed shut some 20 years prior. It was accessible only by narrow stairway beneath a trap door that had been concealed beneath a wardrobe amid a pile of unused furniture and decor.

The initial plan was to potentially create a new tourist entry and exit point from the museum. But what Giovannoni found changed everything. Hidden under two layers of plaster, he soon realized, the walls were covered in large-scale charcoal and red chalk sanguine drawings executed with the confidence and ease of a master draftsman.
“The moment you enter that room you simply are speechless,” Paola D’Agostino, director of the Bargello Museums, told the New York Times, adding that as your eyes adjust to the low light “you start seeing all the different drawings and all the different layers.”
But why would Michelangelo have been sequestered in this subterranean space, with just a single window letting in light from the street above?
At the time, the artist’s main patrons, the Medici family, had just returned from exile, having been overthrown by a populist revolt in 1527. Because Michelangelo had worked on behalf of the republican government, supervising the city’s fortifications, Pope Clement VII—a member of the family—had sentenced him to death.

Hiding beneath the basilica was a way for Michelangelo to lay low until he was back in the pope’s good graces. Fortunately, the Medicis ended up forgiving Michelangelo about two months later, lifting the death sentence and allowing him to leave his (freshly decorated) hiding place to resume work on the family’s tombs at the basilica.
Most scholars are in agreement that the chamber’s sketches appear to be the work of Michelangelo.
If you want to judge for yourself, be forewarned that there will still only be limited access to the Secret Room. The museum is making just 100 tickets—priced at €32 ($34), including access to the Medici Chapels—available for each week, with 15 minute slots for groups of four. There is a 45-minute gap between each visit, to limit the works’ exposure to light.

Sarah Cascone
Senior Writer
Sarah Cascone is a senior writer for artnet News, where she has worked since its 2014 launch. She is the co-founder of Young Women in the Arts, and was previously on staff at Art in America. A native of Northport, New York, she went to Fordham University in the Bronx, graduating magna cum laude from the honors program with a double major in visual art and history.

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Murals On The Street! / Jonas Never

11/20/2023

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Jonas Never Never More a Mural!

This was sent to me from Sue W.:
Silver Lake: A Jonas Never mural of musicians Beck, Elliott Smith, Jackson Browne and the Silversun Pickups in Silver Lake, put up when Floyd’s 99 Barbershop occupied the space, has reportedly been painted over by the building’s new tenant, which is part of a chain of tanning salons.
A new mural is said to be due for the wall. [L.A. Dork]

This iconic mural in Silver Lake on Parkman/Sunset featuring the holy trinity of Elliott Smith, Beck, and Silversun Pickups, was completely painted over by a new tenant -- a tanning salon chain that apparently didn't want to pay for upkeep but now promises their own mural.

“Yea… Promises, Promises! What a Shame!
Another Great Mural lost!
I hope they hire Mr. Never to paint the new one!
( Homeboyz from my old neighborhood! )” -RQ

Here are a few of Jonas’ murals from his
Not-Twitter-Any-More-X-Account
twitter.com/never1959?lang=en:

"5 days and an unbelievable amount of @MontanaPaint
to do this 41’ "Lizard King" in Venice Beach.
#JimMorrison actually lived/crashed here and they shot the Doors here, as well" -NEVER!

"Pretty amazing experience painting @tompetty
on Ventura Blvd just in time for the #vampirewalk" -NEVER!

“Underwater action at @thevenicewhaler... I'm really happy with the way this one came out #veniceisforlovers” -NEVER!

"Here's a Pacific Ocean Park mural I just did at Ashland Hill on Main st in Santa Monica @66SunsetStrip" -NEVER!

Here’s an Interview:
Jonas Never Interview
By Nick Douglas Published February 27, 2019

And his…

and... "X"

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Spotlight Update / Tracy Lee Stum

11/13/2023

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As usual, Tracy’s been painting up a storm!

“I have had a busy summer!
I want to share some of the great work that I have done recently.” -Tracy Lee Stum

Tilt: A Tracy Lee Stum Museum will take you on a journey filled with delight, laughter and awe. You’ll step into unbelievable life-size murals for an unforgettable and inimitable experience of art.

TiLT: American Dream Gets A Makeover!

"We are thrilled to announce that our facade
at American Dream recently had a makeover.
This bright new entrance is sure to pique the curiosity
and 'TiLT' visitors' points of view!" -Tracy

You can learn more about TiLT here

The artwork Tracy creates is a far cry from paintings
behind velvet ropes in museums.
Her art is made to be played in,
and this is the foundation for
Tilt A Tracy Lee Stum Museum
an experience like no other where people of all ages can step through the looking glass and revive their sense of wonder.
With every stroke of brush or strike of chalk, Tracy transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary.
Her journey from aspiring artist to award winning master
of her craft has culminated in
Tilt A Tracy Lee Stum Museum,
the purest expression of her love for art and imagination.

"We are looking to expand TiLT!
Are you interested in bringing
TiLT: A Tracy Lee Stum Museum
to your community?
We would love to hear from you!
info@tracyleestum" -Tracy

Client: Braunabiity
Name of Piece: Access Aisle Campaign
Size of piece: 20’ x 10’
Materials:Vinyl graphic / digital design

"My team and I loved creating this 3D Access Aisle artwork, an optical illusion resembling a raised barrier to discourage drivers from misusing the space intended for those with mobility challenges.
The 3D Access Aisle is visible in cities around the country as a conversation starter about inclusion.

The optical illusion was designed to work with
standardized parking slots adjacent to
mobility challenged support vehicles.
My concept began with looking at the older version
parking striping feature in disabilities parking zones.
Our team hoped the added optical illusion
would draw more attention to these zones.
By using the approved blue curb color,
the design seamlessly replaced the standard
flat striping in the parking spots,
maintaining code requirements for the design.

"Thanks to Braunability for asking my team and and I to contribute to this engaging civic project." -Tracy

Client: NVIDIA for the Siggraph Convention
Name of Piece: Utah Teapot
Size of Piece: 10’ x 15’
Materials: Chalk Pastel on Pavement

"Pioneering Graphics for the AI Generation"
was the mission statement.
We partnered with Nvidia for their Siggraph Convention.
Our team created a 3D chalk drawing which pays homage
to the Utah Teapot, an iconic 3D test object.
We attempted to capture the process of an image being generated in reference to AI being able to generate
incredible imagery now.
The teapot is glass and lit in a way to highlight the realism that we're able to achieve with computer graphics in present-day.

Once the layout design was completed, our team member Julio Jimenez recreated the teapot using 3D rendering software to effectively create the luminance of glass
as it would work with the existing environment.
Guests interacted around the borders of the design,
standing on the perimeter of the virtual space.

Visitors to the site loved the artwork and enjoyed discussing the use of the Utah teapot in the design.

Tracy was also the "Featured Speaker" at the 23rd annual International Retail Design Conference (IRDC) in Minneapolis on October 26, 2023.
IRDC features two days of engaging educational and networking experiences for visual merchandising and store design professionals from across the globe.

Interested in working with Tracy?
Do you have any questions about her work?
Do you need help with an upcoming event or activation?
If so, you can contact her here:
[email protected]

Copyright (C) 2023 Right Angle Management.
All rights reserved.

Her mailing address is:
Right Angle Management
237 CALIFORNIA STREET
EL SEGUNDO, CA 90245
USA

Here's a link to Tracy’s ‘Featured Artist’ blog-post
here on "Duit-On-Mon-Dai" for 2-27-23
http://www.artandsoulproductions.com/blog/tracy-lee-stum-muralist-3d-street-chalk-artist

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Stunning Glass Murals! / Bonnie Rubinstein

11/6/2023

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Bonnie Rubinstein Studio
https://www.rubinsteinstudio.com/
email: [email protected]
phone: 715-220-8105

“I am pretty much a 2D Painter Guy, although I have dabbled in the 3D worlds of painted tile and glass painting
and glazes for stained glass windows,
and some etching and sandblasting…
But this Gal takes it all to another level altogether!
I love Bonnie’s work, and I really respect her dedication to exploring her medium deeply,
and her courage to work on such a large and monumental scale!” -RQ

GLASS MURAL
REPRESENTING 7 ECOSYSTEMS

This huge 11' x 13' fused glass art mural
is a beautiful celebration of nature!
Each piece features stunning colors and forms
inspired by seven different ecosystems that
evolve into one another in 2' x 4' fused glass panels.

The concept for this project was a collaboration with high school students
through a grant provided by
the WI Arts Board 'EcoLegacy' project

Scaffolding for installation! 15' above ground level. Exiting (and frightening) experience!

“The concept for this unique mural was developed in a fun glass workshop that I (Bonnie) taught to River Falls High School students in 2010. During the workshop, the students learned about how to work in fused glass, the impact of public art, and the importance of preserving a healthy planet.
The students came up with this amazing concept supporting sustainability, which I (Bonnie) then created in glass! The students made this their legacy tribute to the school.
A special "Thank you" to facilitator Julie Dean for your help!”
-Bonnie Rubinstein

About Bonnie and Glass

"What medium plays with form, color, and light the way glass does? This mesmerizing material still awes me!
I am passionate about it!. I have always loved glass...
to that end... I studied glassblowing, neon, and stained glass.
But what really spoke to me was fused glass, or kiln formed glass. I saw the bigger picture of what glass could do in its scale, its ability to convert light, and its impact on a space.
I envisioned glass art spread across a wall or hanging from the ceiling in new ways.
So, I purchased large sheets of brilliant fusible glass and a kiln on sheer faith and experimented. And, literally, the light went on! I absorbed as much as I could through trial and error.
I focused on perfecting visual techniques while learning the technical intricacies of managing the outcome of glass at 1450 degrees.
The outcome- I now kiln-fire and kiln-form colored fusible glass into many architectural uses." -Bonnie Rubinstein

GLASS and METAL
AERIAL and ARCHITECTURAL
WALL SCULPTURES!

'The Power of Art'
65' long (!) glass and metal wall sculpture,
commissioned by the City of River Falls
for the power substation on the river.
A colorful representation of water power
viewable day or night.
Designed, fabricated, and installed by
Bonnie Rubinstein Studio.

'Luminous Flight'
25’ diameter Aerial Sculpture,
Westfields Hospital Rotunda
New Richmond, WI

“River Fusion”
20’ tall, glass and metal
University of Wisconsin,
River Falls, Student Center

a typical adventurous glass day in the studio!

Environmental Stewardship
Supporting sustainable values is a priority!

Bonnie has performed environmental audits for many other companies through EcoSource, Inc. since 1990.
So, she naturally monitors her studio's waste stream and materials sourcing. The studio is as close to being a zero-waste shop as possible, and is sustainable in many ways.

   • glass scraps are used in future pieces.
   • water is needed to run the saws, cutters, and grinders,
but used minimally.
   • Bonnie picks up the large sheets of glass
in her van in quantities;
avoiding need for shipping boxes, bubble wrap.
   • heating- only when in use, and by an efficient gas heater, never set above 60, even in frigid weather.
   • cooling- cool and comfortable in the lower level of a large former dairy barn, doors kept open for cross ventilation,
the concrete floor we poured helps retain the coolness.
In the colder months, we unroll a carpet
to insulate against the cold.
   • cabinets, table tops, desk, chair, carpeting, and large florescent lights were all procured from office remodeling projects, where they were headed for the dumpster.

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Mind-Bending Murals by Odeith

10/30/2023

1 Comment

"This photo was sent to me by my dear friend Pamela White because she knows I love these fun anamorphic murals."

From Pam: "Hey Roberto!
Here's a striking piece of street art (tea time) by the Portuguese Artist Odeith
(via beauty of nature" ~link)

"I thought this guy’s name sounded familiar,
and sure enough…
I featured him on my blog on
'Anamorphic Illusions'
back in August 2022.
I think he deserves a closer look!
Here are a few more of his amazing creations!" -RQ

From Demilked:
16 Mind-Bending 3D Art Pieces By Portuguese Graffiti Artist Odeith
All Image credits: odeith

Sérgio ‘Odeith’ was born in 1976 in Damaia (Portugal).
It was in the mid-1980s when he used a spray can for the first time. He painted some signatures and doodles on his neighborhood walls. But only in the mid-1990s, Sérgio had his first contact with graffiti when some graffiti writers painted outside the neighborhood (Carcavelos), where graffiti had a strong movement.
His first experiments were to paint illegally on the street walls and mostly on the railway lines of the Sintra line.
The passion he has always shown for drawing found a new purpose. His artistic evolution was impressive due to his dedication to painting large-scale murals in Damaia, Carcavelos, and in many poor neighborhoods of Amadora city.

Sérgio dropped out of school at the age of 15.
Without any school graduation or art lessons, he never gave up,.All of his knowledge about art was entirely self-taught.
After several years of painting street murals with the name “Eith”, it was in 2003 that he created the name “Odeith”.
In 2005, he began his path to international recognition
as a result of his innovative pieces using the anamorphosis technique

Most of Odeith's compositions are painted in 90º corners and flat walls, truly create a 3D optical illusion effect.

Authentic compositions of huge insects or objects,
painted in abandoned spaces became viral and stood out for their realism and technique.
Later, in 2008, he closed his tattoo shop (opened in 1999) and moved to London. Currently in Lisbon, Odeith focuses exclusively on studio work and walls.

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Re(?)-Visiting: ‘ART IN THE STREETS’ at MOCA, 2011

10/16/2023

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This exhibition took place at
The Museum of Contemporary Art,
Los Angeles, California
in 2011.

Art in the Streets
The first major historical exhibition of graffiti and street art organized by an American museum, surveys the origins and history of the movement in the United States and traces its influence as it spread around the world.

“O.K. so... I wasn’t actually there, and I don’t remember paying a whole lot of attention to the ‘Taggerz’ the, and to the ‘Throw-ups’ and the whole ’Self-Abuse-as-Art’ scene at the time… I was busy making money doing super-graphics and other large-scale mural projects that people were actually paying me to paint… but my Crew and the Kidz over in R&D said the show was pretty cool and well worth a visit!

So here's a re-visit to the MOCA website, designed to document this now legendary exhibition.” -RQ

Art in the Streets
was the first extensive survey of the history of graffiti and street art to be presented in an American museum.
The exhibition traced the trajectory of street art from TAKI 183 and his Greek American friends in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York to contemporary innovators like Barry McGee, Banksy, and Swoon who have helped to inspire a new global audience.

The exhibition attracted the highest attendance in the museum’s history.

Barry McGee, Street, 2011, Mixed media installation

Banksy, Untitled, 2011, Mixed media installation

Art in the Streets
included works by over one hundred artists from more than twenty cities.
The exhibition took place at the
Museum of Contemporary Art,
Los Angeles
from April 17 to August 8, 2011,
and included a historical timeline documenting the most important developments in street art from the early 1970s to 2011.

Wild Style mural by ZEPHYR, REVOLT, SHARP, New York, 1983

The show focused on major innovations
such as the invention of Wild Style in New York, Chaz Bojórquez and Cholo graffiti in East Los Angeles, and the heritage of Jamie Reid’s punk graphics in London.

Chaz Bojórquez, Tres Placas (Three Tags), 2011, Acrylic paint on wall and Keith Haring car

Several key venues in the history of street art were recreated, including the seminal
Fun Gallery and RAMMELLZEE’s entire studio, with his letter racers suspended from the ceiling.

Patti Astor at Keith Haring’s exhibition, FUN Gallery, New York, 1983. Photo: Eric Kroll

An entire wing of the museum was devoted to a new version of the celebrated Street Market, created by Barry McGee, Stephen Powers, and Todd James.
A gallery memorialized the work of
Dash Snow surrounded by works
by his IRAK crew.

The show featured ambitious installations by artists including Os Gemeos, Banksy, Shepard Fairey, RETNA, and Swoon
and an immense outdoor mural
orchestrated by Lee Quiñones.

Los Angeles legend Mister Cartoon created an installation around his famous ice cream truck, which he spent years customizing and painting.

Mister Cartoon, 1963 International Ice Cream Truck, 1995-2011, Urethane enamel candy paint on truck

There was an extensive section on the art
that emerged from the Los Angeles surf and skate subcultures,
featuring films by Spike Jonze,
conceptual posters by Craig R Stecyk III,
and an enormous photo collage
by Ed Templeton.

NECK FACE created a frightening trash-strewn and graffiti-scarred alley
where he lay in the gutter dressed as a bum, sometimes terrifying unsuspecting visitors.

Cars customized and painted
by Kenny Scharf,
and Keith Haring greeted visitors
at the entrance.

Installation view of Kenny Scharf, Untitled (car), 1981, with FUN Gallery in background and paintings by Lee Quiñones

Artists from around the world were invited to create works for the show including
Stelios Faitakis from Athens,
MISS VAN from Barcelona,
MODE 2 from Mauritius,
ROA from Ghent,
and JR from Paris.

Stelios Faitakis, The Legacy of Decline, 2011, Latex paint, acrylic paint, and spray paint on wood panels

A large section was devoted to Los Angeles artists including REVOK, RISK, and SABER.

View of murals by RISK, REVOK, Mister Cartoon, and Los Angeles artists; "heaven" freeway sign by REVOK above; and painted Chevy car by Mister Cartoon. Photo: Brian Forrest

There were galleries devoted to artist/photographers Gusmano Cesaretti, Martha Cooper, Henry Chalfant,
Estevan Oriol, KR (Craig Costello),
Terry Richardson, and TEEN WITCH,
and filmmakers Bill Daniel
and Charlie Ahearn.

A special arrangement was made
for Banksy and his crew to work late
at night with the security cameras shut off
after all the other artists had left.
He created a show within the show in addition to an outdoor steamroller installation.
Banksy had agreed to participate in the show on two conditions:
One, that there be at least one day a week of free admission,
and two, that photography would be permitted.
The museum administration initially said no
to both requests, being reluctant to forgo the admissions revenue and wary of the legal complications of allowing open photography.
In 2011, almost all museums still prohibited photography.
In response, Banksy immediately sent the museum a contribution to cover the estimated lost revenue on the free day.
Solving the photography challenge
was more difficult.
Letters had to be written to the copyright owners of every artwork in the show.
All but one of the three hundred fifty rights holders and owners sent back written permission allowing the works to be photographed.
The results were astonishing.
By the end of the exhibition
8,500 people were lining up to visit the exhibition on the free Mondays.
Photography in the exhibition became a phenomenon with thousands of images posted online, taking the impact of the exhibition to a different dimension.

In conjunction with the show, large mural paintings were commissioned for the facades of the West Hollywood Public Library
parking garage by Shepard Fairey,
RETNA, and Kenny Scharf.

RETNA, Los espiritus de la calle van a sobrevivir, 2011, Acrylic paint on canvas panels. Photo: Martha Cooper

https://artinthestreets.org/map

“The MOCA website also has a really cool interactive map that’s worth checking out.
You can click on the name in the gallery and see a view of that exhibit!” -RQ

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“Bishop Bakery, 1922” mural by Janet Essley

9/18/2023

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“Bishop Bakery, 1922”
by
Janet Essley
1998 / 8' x 24’
125 North Main Street,
Bishop Art Supply

Since the 1850’s, Basque sheepherders have trailed their flocks in the area. The shepherds taught their time-honored recipe for a thick-crusted, tasty bread to Bob and Louisa Schoch, the owners of the Bishop Bakery. The original “Sheepherders’ Bread from the Pyrenees country was baked in brick ovens and lasted several weeks without spoiling.

Janet Essley’s Murals

“I enjoy commissioned work for the unexpected artistic journeys and the new friendships to which they lead. Research for commissions has led me to study topics as diverse as traditional Coptic design and cellular physics. While painting outdoor murals I have watched the sun rise descend down the peaks of the Sierras, been scolded by Osprey, serenaded with Mexican ballads, and been honored with the stories evoked in passers-by. Collaboration with sponsors, site owners, and observers is a unique process that joins me to the community in new and exciting ways.

I create murals for businesses, mural societies, hospitals and clinics, schools, and for environmental and faith-based organizations.” -Janet Essley,

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Last Judgment, Ceiling Mural 1572-9: Giorgio Vasari / Vincenzo Borghini, / Federico Zuccari

9/4/2023

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When I was researching my post for Giorgio Vasari’s Birthday recently, I came across this interesting article on a ceiling mural collaboration by Giorgio Vasari, Vincenzo Borghini, and Federico Zuccari of the Last Judgement for Brunelleschi’s dome in the Florence cathedral, which had remained unfinished after Brunelleschi’s death in 1446.
The walls of the dome, which should have been covered by resplendent gold according to Brunelleschi project, were whitewashed.(!)

Last Judgment, 1572-9, Florence: Duomo.

It was the Grand Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici who had the idea to paint the dome’s interior. In 1572, he commissioned Giorgio Vasari to paint frescoes on the dome of the Florence cathedral; Vasari was flanked by Vincenzo Borghini, who worked to the iconographic subjects and added other themes taken from Dante‘s Divine Comedy.

VASARI’s LAYOUT
The closest graphic text to follow was based on the mosaics in the Baptistery, divided into rows placed one on top of the other.

The Florence Baptistery, also known as the Baptistery of Saint John, the patron saint of Florence.

As a great admirer of Michelangelo, Vasari also drew inspiration from thewww.florenceinferno.com/the-last-judgement-michelangelo/ Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel.
As a result, the dome (4,000 square meters) was divided into six concentric rows placed one above the other, inside of which were arranged groups of figures separate from each other due to the division of the dome into eight vertical segments.

Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel.

Giorgio Vasari's subjects were carefully matched up along the the dividing lines of rows and segments so that the theological pattern could be followed vertically and horizontally.
Starting from the false central lantern at the top of the dome, surrounded by 24 venerable old men from the Apocalypse, each segment is decorated with the four following themes: an angelic chorus with the instruments of the Passion, a series of Saints and Elect, a triad of figures representing a Gift from the Holy Ghost, and a region of Hell dominated by deadly Sin.
In the eastern segment, opposite the central nave, the four themes become three to make space for the great Christ in Glory placed between the Madonna and St. John above the three Theological Virtues (Faith, Hope, and Charity), and followed under by the allegorical figures of Time and the Triumphant Church.

ZUCCARI’s LAYOUT
Vasari died on June 27, 1574, two months after the death of Cosimo I, when he had carried out only one third of the work. Although he had not completed the drawings for the four segments of the cupola and some sketches for the scenes of Hell, the new Grand Duke Francesco I de’ Medici called upon Federico Zuccari, an artist from Urbino, to complete the work.
Work on the frescoes started again on August 30, 1576.
Zuccari, well known in Roman circles, didn’t like Vasari’s style and tried as much as he could to affirm his own originality.
He stopped using Vasari’s method of “fresco” painting, preferring the “dry” or secco method, which was simpler but more perishable, and he changed the physiques of the painted characters, the costumes, the stylistic language, and the color range.
He boycotted the executive delicacy of Vasari, made of subtle color changes, reflections, polished descriptions of ornaments, which are difficult to pick out at such a distance, opting for a painting method that was weak in quality but of great effect, a technique he learned to use for theatrical backdrops.
He portrayed a lively gallery of contemporary personalities among the Elect: his Medici patrons, the Emperor, the King of France, Vasari, Borghini, Giambologna, other artists, and even himself as well as many of his friends and relatives.
As for the Christ in Glory, for which Vasari had left drawings inspired by Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, Zuccari preferred to follow the models used by Raffaello (Raphael), which were more in harmony with the sanctimonious rulings of the Council.

The Triumph of Galatea (1513) by Raphael, which decorates the walls of the Villa della Farnesina in Rome

However, his masterpiece in the cupola will always be his crude rendering of Hell, with its powerful devils inspired by Luca Signorelli’s frescoes in the cathedral of Orvieto, the shameless bodies of the damned, the violent gestures, and the red glow of blood that vividly brings out the dark colors of the composition to life.

Luca Signorelli’s frescoes in the cathedral of Orvieto,

When he finally completed the frescoes in 1579, having also carried out several other interventions and changes on the parts painted by Vasari, Zuccari celebrated the event by preparing a commemorative medallion. However, this did not spare him from the criticism of the Florentines.
The frescoes in the Cupola have never been popular in the city if compared with their counterparts in the interior of the cathedral: they are extremely difficult to look at because they are so removed from the viewer, placed in a dark spherical vault, and they have become increasingly obscured over the centuries by dirt.
However, these frescoes were scrupulously restored between 1978 and 1985, and it is now possible to re-evaluate them and appreciate the power of the cycle and its importance in Florentine art history.
This enormous space allows for an interesting comparison between two different ways of interpreting art rather than an antagonism between two painters: on the one hand we have Vasari, a “conservative” painter and follower of a Tuscan tradition that had been passed down directly from the Middle Ages; on the other, Zuccari, who “imported” the methods of the Roman painter-contractors to Florence, which were based on a poor executive quality but a grandiose final effect.

Articles from:
Florence Inferno
Florence Inferno is a blog about the Florentine mysteries, symbols, and places that are mentioned in Dan Brown’s novel Inferno,

And:

"Since you have made it this far…
Here is a link to a few of my modest ceiling murals from my virtual portfolio that I was fortunate to have been commissioned to paint." -RQ

http://www.artandsoulproductions.com/ceiling-murals--domes.html

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Murals On The Street!: Ian Schuler

8/28/2023

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So I’m out in the neighborhood and I see this cool mural at the Porticos Art Space, 2033 E. Washington Blvd., Pasadena, CA

The mural was painted for the Arroyo Repertory Theatre
by Ian Schuler aka ‘iantheartboy’.

Arroyo Repertory Theatre Unveils
Its New Mural
By: A.A. Cristi Sep. 27, 2021

Arroyo Repertory Theatre unveiled its new mural at Porticos Art Space, 2033 E. Washington Ave., Pasadena, CA on September 25, 2021.
Pasadena-born artist Ian Schuler painted the mural.
The mural includes depictions of performing singers as well as roses and peacocks (for which the area is well-known).

"I like what Ian did with the awning!" -RQ

Whatever you are doing.
Make it good.

It all begins with an idea. The art unfolds, warps, expands,
and changes through the process of creation.
These changes are what inspire and excite Ian Schuler the most. He uses art as a nexus to a connection to nature and the universe in which we live.

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The Bishop Mural Society

8/21/2023

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About Us:
The Bishop Mural Society was incorporated in 1997 to display our heritage in a spectacular outdoor art gallery surrounded by natural beauty. In its first ten years, founders Barbara and David Williams, Dan Wells and John Knowlton established Bishop as a mural destination by producing professional, historically accurate, visually and artistically excellent quality murals. Fifteen colorful mural sites showcase the fascinating history of the Owens Valley on buildings throughout the city. Bishop Mural Society is a founding member of the California Public Art and Mural Society, which held their Public Art Symposium here in 2005. Our most recent achievement is a ten by fifteen foot natural history mural of 421 sculpted ceramic tiles and mosaic, created by 216 community members.

Our Mission:
We produce and maintain high quality public art specializing in events and characters of historical significance to the local community. We partner with local businesses, organizations and artists to nurture a healthy local economy.

Bishop Murals
The Bishop Mural Society has produced 15 public murals throughout the City of Bishop.
(Map Published on June 8, 2015)

Fifteen of Bishop’s Murals and Their Stories
http://www.bishopmurals.com/murals.html

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Redefining Mental Health Spaces with Art / Orlanda Broom

8/14/2023

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Winsor & Newton, the London based manufacturer of artist’s materials, is in partnership with the mental health charity Hospital Rooms to transform mental health treatment spaces by commissioning artists to create murals, providing patients a welcoming and dignified environment.

"This is a program very dear to my heart as my decision to become a muralist, back in the early 80’s when I was a Respiratory Therapist and a Hyperbaric Technician working with burn patients and the chronically ill, was to be able to create a positive and uplifting environment for people to enjoy and to thrive in.
I am happy to feature Ms. Broom’s mural work and her collaboration with Hospital Rooms." -Roberto Quintana

We (Winsor & Newton) are delighted to announce an expansion in our partnership with the mental health charity Hospital Rooms. The aim of Hospital Rooms is to provide people being treated for mental health issues with a welcoming and dignified space by commissioning global artists to install artwork on the wards. In sponsoring artist Orlanda Broom, we can support her creative journey making work for Rosebud Ward at Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust.

Founders of Hospital Rooms, curator Niamh White and artist Tim A. Shaw, built the organization based on personal experience. They visited a good friend who was an in-patient on a mental health ward and came away struck by the lack of care given to the surroundings. They knew they had the skills and community to be able to transform these spaces with high-quality artworks. And they believed in the power of art to connect people. Thus, Hospital Rooms was born.

We join many prestigious partners who have been working to help Hospital Rooms expand their capacity to help people. Currently, the charity is working across the UK and has inspired a pilot project in Lagos, Nigeria.

It is a tremendous privilege to join Hospital Rooms and contribute in a small way as they work with service users and staff to alleviate the challenges faced by people with mental health issues. Working alongside them allows us an insight into how artists work and how they interpret the world. And it gives us a way of understanding how artists re-interpret their work to thoughtfully adapt to important community projects.

Featured Artist: Orlanda Broom
https://www.winsornewton.com/na/articles/artists/featured-artist-orlanda-broom/

Orlanda Broom creates paintings in two distinct styles: lush and floral landscapes, and fluid and abstract works. What connects these two bodies of work is her use of colour, organic forms and exploration of painting mediums. Orlanda earned an MA in Fine Art from Winchester School of Art in 1997 while studying in Barcelona. She has lived in Portugal and London and now works from her studio in Hampshire.

Orlanda's landscapes portray reimagined places that are vibrant, colourful and full of life. Her abstract paintings, created in the spirit of abstract expressionism, are made intuitively with resin and allow chance to play a role in forming the composition. Notably, Orlanda has completed large-scale commissions including a 4x4m piece for the lobby of the new Four Seasons Downtown New York and a large abstract work for the Mandarin Oriental in London. She is also involved with the mental health charity, Hospital Rooms.

WWW.ORLANDABROOM.COM

INSTAGRAM
TWITTER
LINKEDIN

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Happy Birthday Giorgio Vasari! July 30, 1511

7/30/2023

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Dedicated to the study of Italian art and architecture from prehistory to the present!

Happy Birthday Giorgio Vasari!
The painter, architect, collector, and influential author was born on this day (July 30) in 1511 in Arezzo.
A successful painter and architect in the service of Grand Duke Cosimo I de’Medici, Vasari is best known today for his Lives of the Artists, a collection of biographies from Cimabue through his autobiography. Published in two editions (1550/1568), the text has had a profound impact on the development of connoisseurship, art history, and Italian Renaissance studies.

St. Luke Painting the Virgin, Photo credit: Web Gallery of Art.

Self-Portrait, between 1550 and 1567. Florence: Uffizi.

Apotheosis of Cosimo I / Cosimo I de’ Medici among the Artists of his Court (1563), Fresco ceiling painting by Giorgio Vasari

“I have represented the lord Duke Cosimo triumphant and glorious, crowned by the personification of Florence with an oak wreath” -Vasari

The centre of the entire ceiling’s decorations is Cosimo I de’ Medici: the Duke is wearing a purple cloak, is seen sitting on the clouds and is accompanied by the Ducal crown, the cross belonging to the order of Saint Stephen and finally the Golden Fleece (received from the Emperor in 1545). Surrounding him are the symbols of the city and the insignia of the Florentine Arts. Photo: Simone Lampredi

For more on Vasari, see:
Julian Kliemann and Antonio Manno.
“Vasari.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web.
[http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T088022pg1].

An Equestrian Monument for Giorgio Vasari

In collaboration with Paradise for Artists of Pasadena, California, the cultural association Paradise for Artists of Arezzo presents the sixth appointment of a program of events and collective exhibitions to support the project:
"An equestrian monument for Giorgio Vasari
on tour in America and in Italy"
and raise funds to dedicate a bronze statue to Giorgio Vasari, the father of art history, the first art historian.

sculptor, Christopher Slatoff,

PARADISE FOR ARTISTS INC
is a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Corporation,
Federal tax ID# 87-0978724
Your donation is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Our goal is to create an Equestrian Monument for
the Father of Art History and the First Art Historian
GIORGIO VASARI

For any further information
please contact the number (+39) 338 6005593
or
write to the following emails:
[email protected] .

www.ParadiseforArtists.org
www.GiorgioVasari.org

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Keith Haring Murals

7/24/2023

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“For myself, I aim for an art which would be in immediate connection with daily life which could start from our daily life and which would be a very direct and very sincere expression of our real life and real moods.” -Keith Haring

Though Keith Haring’s murals can be found around the world, his work for the Belgian Channel Surf Club in Knokke is certainly a standout piece. By invitation of Roger Nellens in 1987, Haring arrived in Knokke to continue the legacy of the Nellens family — as his father is the man to have commissioned René Magritte’s The Enchanted Domain in the nearby casino. Painted in a single day Keith Haring’s mural depicts the swimmers present in the rising tides, crashing through waves and advancing towards a grotesque but humorous sea monster that aims to consume them. With his characteristic pop-art figures and comic-book-like language, Haring’s impression on the seaside town cemented an artistic legacy lasting far longer than the tragically short life of the artist.

Antwerp Contemporary Museum of Art

“One of the things I have been most interested in is the role of chance in situations–letting things happen by themselves. My drawings are never preplanned. I never sketch a plan for a drawing, even for huge wall murals. My early drawings, which were always abstract, were filled with references to images, but never had specific images. They are more like automatic writing or gestural abstraction.” -Keith Haring

Pasadena Mural at the Art Center College of Design

Stedelijk Museum Warehouse

Current Exhibitions

One Person Exhibitions
Keith Haring: Art is for Everybody
The Broad, Los Angeles, CA
May 27 – October 8, 2023
Visit Website

Keith Haring: Amsterdam Notes
May 26 – November 5, 2023
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Visit website

Keith Haring: Against All Odds
April 15 – September 24, 2023
Akron Art Museum
Visit website

Keith Haring has murals all around the world,
check out the map/link to find his work near you.

https://www.haring.com/!/archives/murals-map

The murals map is temporarily unavailable.
-However-
There are images and information about the murals
that Keith Haring made around the world. Enjoy!

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...to Roberto's Blog!

‘Duit-On-Mon
-Dai-Luna-Prime’

  Roberto has been pestering the ‘Marketing’ staff here at Art and Soul for some time now to get together with ‘Research and Development’ to come up with a fun way for him to share all the great work out there of all the many other talented muralists and artists he's been "influenced by" over the years. ‘Sales’ was totally against the idea! ("How could that possibly improve the bottom-line?!"). ‘Marketing’ remains split, as usual ("We need more data"). ‘R&D’ thought it might be a fun way to "show off a little", and to showcase all those great ideas they keep finding out there on the internet. ‘HR’ said it might be a good way to keep 'The Crew' distracted ("Since they are all so bored since Covid hit, and Roberto is spending more and more time in his studio working on all those silly little easel paintings").
'The Crew' said: ’'Sure, We've got nothing else going on …but only if we get to share stuff about technique, materials, and equipment." ‘Receivables’ said: "It obviously won’t make more work for us, so why not!". 'Legal' said: "No Way! You are NOT going to reveal where you steal all your ideas from!" (Although Roberto values their legal advice, He rarely listen’s to their hysterics anyway). So... here we are! Welcome!

‘Duit-On-Mon-Dai-Luna-Prime’
     "As the title implies, I will post once a Month (on the first Monday, more or less). Feel free to leave a family friendly comment. Dialogue and praise is encouraged. Creativity, passion and wonder should be expected. Politics and personal grievances hopefully kept to private emails. And please… no Whining! and no sales pitches either (you can make your own damn blog for that).
   I expect to start becoming a little more savvy with all this social media stuff, but for now ‘Bookmark’ my website and check back every once in a while. I hope you will find it interesting. Don’t be too persnickety over my whimsical spelling and creative punctuations either, my Editorial Department is not what it used to be… I am seriously understaffed these days."
Peace and Love...
-Roberto Quintana, WFA

The ‘Holy Trinity’ fresco by ‘Big-Ugly-Tom’ aka Masaccio

Cholo graffiti in East Los Angeles with Cheech Marin / Part B: Chaz Bojorquez

Laurence Linkus: Posthumous Art Exhibition!!

Maxfield Parrish’s ‘Old King Cole’ murals

Genoski, Atlas, and Saturno

Murals On The Street: Ghosts!! / ‘Genoski’ and ‘Atlas’

Update to: 21 Murals for Uvalde, Texas

21 Murals for Uvalde, Texas

“Art Saves Lives!”

Joerael / One Down Dog Mural

One Down Dog Mural
- By -

J o e r a e l

Happy Link-o de Mayo!!

Joe Bravo: 'Water is Life' mural

‘Water is Life’
mural in Highland Park a community effort

"Joe Bravo
is more than just the world's greatest
tortilla artist!"
Written by Cynthia Rebolledo Sep. 21, 2023

“The Slim Princess” by Robert Thomas, John Knowlton, and Richard Perkins

Michelangelo, Underground Graffiti Artist!

Murals On The Street! / Jonas Never

Spotlight Update / Tracy Lee Stum

Stunning Glass Murals! / Bonnie Rubinstein

Mind-Bending Murals by Odeith

Re(?)-Visiting: ‘ART IN THE STREETS’ at MOCA, 2011

“Bishop Bakery, 1922” mural by Janet Essley

Last Judgment, Ceiling Mural 1572-9: Giorgio Vasari / Vincenzo Borghini, / Federico Zuccari

Murals On The Street!: Ian Schuler

The Bishop Mural Society

Redefining Mental Health Spaces with Art / Orlanda Broom

Happy Birthday Giorgio Vasari! July 30, 1511

Keith Haring Murals

...to Roberto's Blog!

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“Art Saves Lives!”

One Down Dog Mural- By -​J o e r a e l

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One Down Dog Mural
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J o e r a e l