Author: Malcolm MacLeod
Passersby of the East Bridge of City Hall will notice a newly revealed mural that depicts scenes of Filipino culture and tradition, honoring the contributions Filipino residents have made to the Los Angeles community. The mural itself represents another essential component of Los Angeles tradition: mural art. This new mural exists due to a new ordinance that marks the return of murals to Los Angeles after an extended hiatus.
On Friday Oct. 11, prominent members of the Los Angeles art community gathered at City Hall to commemorate the signing of a resolution, which declared Oct. 12 the first annual Los Angeles Mural Day. The holiday, which was advocated for by the Los Angeles Mural Conservancy, marked the date that a new ordinance went into effect, lifting the decade-long ban on mural art in Los Angeles. Championed by Eagle Rock’s own City Councilman José Huizar, the ordinance has garnered widespread approval in the artistic community but faced opposition from Los Angeles lawmakers concerned with property owners’ right to censor artwork in their neighborhoods.
Mural art became an identifying characteristic of Los Angeles in the 1970s when members of mural painting’s seminal era such as Willie Herrón and Kent Twitchell painted large scale masterpieces throughout the city, depicting the political and social upheaval of the day. By the 90s, advertisers had begun abusing the art of mural painting by hiding advertisements within works of public art, inspiring city lawmakers to take action against such deception. The resulting 2002 ban, which cited violations of the first amendment as its impetus, effectively halted the intrusion of advertising into public art, while at the same time stifling creative opportunities for mural artists by making murals, commercial or not, illegal.
The creative freedoms allowed by the new ordinance will be contingent upon the artists’ willingness to navigate the bureaucratic channels outlined by the ordinance.
“The new mural ordinance will allow muralists to put up their work in business and industrial zones for at least two years after completing an application process and paying a $60 fee,” said Los Angeles Mural Conservancy executive director Isabel Rojas-Williams, who had a hand in writing the new ordinance.
Some may question whether artists should have to wait for the city’s approval to begin working. Although these regulations require artists to work within a specific set of boundaries, they will also ensure that the abuses exhibited by advertisers in the 90s will never again plague the art of mural painting.
“Professional and amateur muralists alike will now be able to create public art without fear of the police and know that their hard work will not be painted over within a number of weeks,” said Rojas-Williams of the inevitable fate of most murals painted during the 10-year ban.
When writing the ordinance, Rojas-Williams and her team of lawmakers, artists and community leaders faced a difficult dilemma: whether the ordinance would allow murals on private or family residences.
In the spirit of compromise, the City Council drafted an ordinance that forbid murals on private residences. Exceptions will however be granted to neighborhoods that now have the option to opt in to the new ordinance, allowing private homeowners to commission and paint murals themselves.
Prior to the initiation of this compromise, some Los Angeles lawmakers were concerned with the new ordinance and its potential to encourage unwanted artwork. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, City Councilmen Paul Koretz and Bob Blumenfeld voiced their concerns about the potential for inappropriate or unwanted artwork within communities that do not want to display murals.
Apart from lawmakers such as Koretz and Blumenfeld, who opposed the new ordinance, there are organizations within Los Angeles fighting for the abatement of unsightly artwork, while at the same time encouraging the city’s artists to create new works.
Such motives are displayed by the Mobile Mural Lab (MML), an organization focused on healing the scars that destructive graffiti have left on some of the city’s most renown murals. The directors of the MML, Roberto Del Hoyo and David Russel, gave a talk at Occidental last March.
“Before the ban, it was common for street gangs to paint graffiti over legitimate murals, because they knew the murals wouldn’t be taken down, so neither would their tags,” said Del Hoyo during his talk at Occidental.
It is this practice, detailed by Del Hoyo, which left Koretz and Blumenfeld fearful that new murals could become “God-awful eyesores,” as Koretz said to the Los Angeles Times.
“These murals are our history, like open books for the youth,” said Rojas-Williams. Because of the ban, Rojas-Williams feels that the city of Los Angeles missed out on ten years of artwork and documented history.
“Murals are essential to neighborhoods like East L.A., where many people cannot afford to go to galleries and learn about fine art. They are a way for the common people to express their feelings about the issues most important to them in a creative, productive and, most importantly, collaborative way,” said Rojas-Williams.
Rojas-Williams expects murals will continue to pop up in traditional mural hot spots such as East L.A., Venice, Pacoima and Santa Monic but feels that the new ordinance will encourage artists to put up their work in new areas.
Traditionally, the citizens of upscale communities such as Thousand Oaks and San Marino have not displayed murals upon their walls. Rojas-Williams believes that these communities are likely to change their attitudes toward public art when they become aware of not only the cultural, but also, economic benefits that mural art can bring to a community.
“One of Willie Herrón’s smaller pieces, four by four let’s say, can go for nearly $6,000. Can you imagine the benefits that a high profile piece of artwork like this, on a large scale, could bring to a community? It’s an investment that I think could really boost real-estate revenues,” said Rojas-Williams. Bringing professional quality artwork into new areas has the potential to attract artistically minded newcomers to neighborhoods, similar to the way community investments such as adding a public pool or repaving roads attract more tourists.
The murals of the past have served as windows into the tumultuous history of Los Angeles. By acknowledging the cultural and educational value of the art form, mural advocates like Rojas-Williams and Huizar aim to convey the value of self-expression and artistic knowledge to the youth of Los Angeles, encouraging the preservation and growth of the city’s rich artistic tradition.
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