LOS ANGELES MURALS

Los Angeles

aka The City of Angels

Simply passing through L.A. in the freeway would reveal this striking fact: The City of Angels is rich with some of the worlds most exotic murals.

Exit off into Silverlake or Boyle Heights and you’re in for quite an illusion. The deeper you venture off into these artsy locations, the heavier the murals get.
From the deep diversity of its enormous ethnic neighborhoods, L.A.’s bridges, walls and freeway over passes have all been converted into concrete canvas for Los Angeles' cultural history and identity.

Urban Murals

By.C.A.

Murals in neighborhoods across the United States are the perfect example of the influence of social art and a significant part of society’s artistic tradition.

Even though murals have been around since man kind was created (Indigenous images on stone), the Latino population has remained most dynamic in the mural painting renaissance that came as a result of the civil rights struggles of the past.

Even though murals on walls are looked down upon most “civilized” Americans and considered graffiti by some, murals are an important form of societal and political expression.

Today there are well-over two hundred thousand unrestricted murals throughout the nation. Cities such as Los Angeles, San Diego, El Paso and New York are some of several that have reserved and preserved areas specifically for cultural, historical and modern age murals.

Public murals can be a good way of determining the distress of any community. For instance if a particular ethnic group is experiencing discrimination, best believe people will find a way of publicizing their concerns through murals and art.

America’s muralists are from a range of cultural backgrounds, and are by no means only Latino.

Today we are seeing murals created by other ethnic groups, such as Asian, African American and even Anglos. Take for example San Clemente, California. The small southern California town is made up of mostly middle and upper class whites. Many of San Clemente’s youths are proudly into skateboarding and surfing. Walls in the area are full of surf and skate related murals.

Even businesses have sponsored murals as advertisements or as part of cultural outreach programs.

Many of America’s older generation still view murals as tacky, but our younger generation seems to have embraced the art form as a part of a hip and more modern society.

Quotes

“Website photography is the mural painting of modern times.”