What Will It Take To Get Folk To Take Mass Transit?

It was a long week of research, this. In the end, a couple of us weary BusBenchers elected to sit down, down some drinks and watch a video of a Los Angeles-based illustrator whose work I have long admired. (I was unaware of the video until I found it at the main branch of the public library.) Titled "In Smog and Thunder: The Great War of The Californias," it is a low-budget albeit sharply produced documentary—replete with brilliant narrative that mocks most every aspect of California life in L.A. and 'Frisco—exhibiting Sandow Birk's voluminous cache of paintings of the same name.

I strongly recommend folk view this, especially those who remain upset over Mr. Birk's new mural on the LAPD's Hollenbeck station over on E. 1st. I state this because it was not at all unknown that the mural was to be brutal and biting in its satire; the people responsible for commissioning Birk are the ones to attack, owing to their ignorance or incompetence or both. One look at the aforementioned video—produced in 2005—should have made clear the storm on the horizon.

In any case, I like the mural, and I have no less appreciation for Mr. Birk's sardonic art.

-BusTard

Comments

[EL CHAVO!]

That's one of my favorite dvds, even better than the book with the excellent audio and "reenactments", really brings the visuals to life. And for the record, LA whoops SF! But of course.

[Bert Green]

Sandow rocks. "The War of the Californias" is a large body of artworks made over about 10 years, and which was displayed in one place at the Laguna Art Museum about 5 or 6 years ago. It is what the "mockumentary" was based on.

Knowing this, and other works by Birk, I was dismayed that the Boyle Height project was so contentious. It just shows that some of the people in this city are unprepared for real art, and too fucking immature to permit actual discourse.

[browne]

I think satire is an art that is very unappreciated in US culture.

Political art that simply draws members of the opposing party as ugly caricatures get lauded as some kind of groundbreaking things (yeah the first time pretty neat the 106th time not so neat) and Sandow is selling his brilliance for marked down prices via paypal, such bullshit.

Now in regards to the mural in Boyle Heights I really hope it was about the fact that a local artist should have been give more of an opportunity to be commissioned to do the work and not the work itself.

With most art I think it should be strictly about the work. I hate the "you didn't die" so lets give you a show kind of art shows.

But with community art for something as small as the BH police station with the amount of artists you have living in the area I think artists with a direct community attachment should get first opportunities on projects such as these and some real outreach be done. And can't just be the normal process because working class people of color don't have the kind of resources that more economically secure (though that means eating top ramen twice a day instead of once a week...lol...)artists have.

We have to do this are the art world (the real players not the big fish in a particular little insular local scene) is never going to get bigger than middle class and upper middle class white guys. And not saying that demographic doesn't make great art it does, but I want to see the world from everyone's perspective.

I'm not for excluding anyone, but if we aren't more proactive in being inclusive lots of art we're never going to get to see. And community art can take the hit.

Birk is a great. I love his work. It makes me happy that he can get grants and funding, that's what grants and funding are for, for people who make you question society. I think he has ground breaking creativity working in his brain. I had really hoped the conversation would have moved away from the work to the process of picking an artist. It is unfortunate that of all the people Birk's work gets used for a symbol of that.

I would have much rather that the LA River Mural graffiti crap had been chosen for that. A bunch of graphic artists from pretty much everywhere but the eastside got to scribble over the LA River and draw their websites (I got a picture of the work, some people had actual drawn their goddamn websites up there) and owing to the fact that they had good PR (cause alot of those "artists" had cash) where able to get their pleas painted in this "we're artists" bullshit.

Birk unfortunately was an easy target because he is an actual real artist who is busy creating instead of making commercial crap and partying with 12 year olds.

I don't even know if that mess was even about the BH community or even supported by member of the BH community I suspect it was something else.