Whose City? Public Art, Power, and Representation in the Urban Landscape

Abner De Paz ART 3170-01  Phase 1: The Site Phase 2: Field Work The first  art piece is called “You Are the Star” by Thomas Suriya. It is a 20’ x 30’ mural painted in 1984 on the side of the Attie Building on Wilcox Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard. The mural depicts the inside of a theatre with its red seats and a large audience. The audience is looking out at you, but the audience is comprised of very important pop culture icons. Some of the people featured are Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Charlie Chaplin, Superman, Cleopatra and many more.  The second art piece is called “That Child of Fleeting Time”. It is a sculpture that was made by the artist Kyungmi Shin. The sculpture is placed outside of Sunset Bronson Studios/ICON Building Netflix Offices. The shape of the sculpture has a lot to do with the location, since it’s on a film studio, it has four film strips that feature LED visuals playing on them. It is made of stainless steel and measures approximately 30’ x 6’ x 15’...

 Civic engagement project to the community  The site I will be working on is my community college, which I used to attend, and I will be discussing why there is a lack of arts in the community. There is a professor at my other campus, and he gave me some information that was interesting to hear. This professor shared some links to 3 museum places in San Diego , Chula Vista, one called the   Bonita Museum , and another called  The Front , and the final museum is called  City of Chula Vista , plus the Southwestern College art gallery . The reasons for a lack of public artworks on campus are varied and include the reasons you mentioned. In my sole, unresearched opinion, the reasons have to do with historic economic conditions and the resulting policies, as well as current funding sources and preferences by the College Administration and Staff.   Southwestern College Chula Vista campus does have 6 historical Public sculptures from the 1960s-early 1...

Public Art in Silver Lake I chose the neighborhood of Silver Lake, Los Angeles , as the site for my civic engagement project. Silver Lake is known for its  trendy and creative "hipster" culture  — a place where fashion-conscious individuals, artists, and innovators live side by side. As a visitor that works in this neighborhood, I have always been drawn to the way the neighborhood uses murals, graffiti, and street art to express identity, history, and social commentary. I photographed several works of public art in Silver Lake, including murals and street pieces located along Sunset Boulevard and nearby intersections. Location: Utility box on  Hyperion Ave & Monon St Artist: Unknown Theme: Reconnecting with the inner child, The work can be read as a commentary on innocence, identity, and the presence of youth in an urban environment, "LA Kids" Representation: The figure is stylized and abstract, i t is not linked to any specific race or age. This allows for...

  South Central Flintstones Art Piece Phase 1: The Site  SITE      I decided to work on this project in my own South Central Los Angeles area. The painting I chose is a house away from my home, at the intersection of Trinity Street and E Jefferson Blvd. I chose to concentrate on this region since it is a portion of the community I am most familiar with, having grown up there and still seeing it regularly. The streets are full of expression, culture, and life, and neighborhood murals frequently depict tales that capture the essence of the community.       I picked this particular location because of the unusual painting that shows characters from The Flintstones smoking marijuana. In addition to its humor, it caught the imaginative and rebellious spirit that characterizes a lot of South Central's street art, which is why it caught my attention. With the building owner's consent, local artists produced this piece of art during the COVID outbre...

  Westmont/Inglewood   I decided to choose my new neighborhood to get to know it better and the streets, which is bit complicated because I'm not to good understanding streets I get lost easily.                                                                        unknown artist                                                                 Location/ Hyde Park                                           Purpose/ Educational, empowering and think different. This mural art is colorful and gives me hope in the humanity and power the commu...