Recommended: May '12 Issue of Juxtapoz

I haven't been excited to look at--much less read--an entire issue of Juxtapoz magazine since March of 2011 when they had a cover story of Emory Douglas, (the Black Panther Party's Minister of Culture). But the current issue on the stands is the "Public Art Issue" which features, (besides four different covers), great photos and interviews of some of the biggest street artists working today.

There's also articles written by the artists themselves. For instance, El Mac, who starts off an essay about murals with a quote from one of the great Mexican muralists, Jose Clemente Orozco: "The highest, most logical, purest and most powerful type of painting is mural painting. It is also the most disinterested, as it cannot be converted into an object of personal gain nor can it be concealed for the benefit of a few privileged people. It is for the people. It is for everybody." And then there's this quote from the introduction of Ron English's article where he talks about his long-time involvement with public art:

"Most of the public art that I've done in my career was unsanctioned. So for me, public art means street art, which is DIY, immediate, unfiltered, non-paying, physically and legally risky, and sometimes resulting in situations unplanned for and out of control. I seem to have an innate ability to generate imagery that pisses people off. Combine that with a penchant for putting it on the street and what you have is a life of constant trouble with periods of great delight."

Other great pieces in this issue include the profile piece on Swoon, an artist known for taking her beautiful wheat pastes and highly creative "out-stallations" all over the world: from Brooklyn to Sao Paulo, Brazil; from New Orleans to Haiti; from San Francisco's Mission District and back again. You can tell she has a lot of love for the planet and loves to engage with all kinds of people. The interview with L.A. graffiti artists Saber and Revok is also good, as it spends much time speaking on the criminalization of graffiti artists (mostly youth), and the constant harassment from police and city government.

But, my favorite article is the profile on JR, a french artist who also travels the world trying to utilize art for social change an has gone to many different places like Brazil, Palestine, South Africa to wheat paste giant sized portraits of regular people that seem to bring out their humanity. "When I'm in the streets and I paste, I have to talk to people, so that's why it's easy for me to talk and paste because that's what I do, working in the streets everyday. I have to explain it to folks. I love people, and I love exchanging, and those projects are a great way to learn about people and ask them questions about their story and really learn about their conflicts," he said in the interview.

If you only buy one issue of Juxtapoz a year, make sure this is the one!

[UPDATE: Some stores have already removed this issue from the stands and have replaced it with the new June issue. However, you can still order this issue online].

Saber speaks

(Just a quick update to a previous blog I posted last week). In the 7th Letter blog, Saber talked about why he hired jets to sky-write over City Hall. He said:

"The reason I hired five jet planes to sky write over City Hall and downtown Los Angeles is to bring awareness to how ridiculous a moratorium on public art is.

The city states that all public murals are signage, effectively banning art from the walls of Los Angeles. And it is removed at the taxpayers’ expense. Money is given to private graffiti removal companies, who have broken onto private property to paint murals beige. The owners of small businesses where murals have been painted have been harassed and threatened with fines if they do not remove the artwork. Police officers raid homes and places of work, intimidating artists and building owners. During this time of economic crisis, “mural signs” are an easy target for the city to extract money. This moratorium is a clear violation of the first amendment right to free speech and enforcement for these unreasonable laws is a complete waste of taxpayer funds.

To put things in perspective I recently visited the beautiful set of murals inside the Terminal Annex Building on Alameda. This mural was painted in 1941-44 and was funded by the “Works Progress Administration” (WPA). Murals are just a part of the legacy of a national program that put the country to work during the Great Depression.

Fast-forward to the Great Recession, taxpayer money is now used to obliterate all traces of the artwork my generation have created. I believe this is city-funded censorship pushed by lawmakers with personal vendettas. Potential jail time is more probable for us than the opportunity of creating an artistic legacy for the next generation. In a city that used to proudly call itself the “Mural Capitol Of The World,” the officials who enforce this ban should be ashamed to call themselves “Angelinos.”

Art Is Not A Crime… End Mural Moratorium."

Saber also provided an online petition for people to sign and you can donate money to the cause by buying an #ArtIsNotACrime t-shirt. (Also, check out the 7th Letter blog for more info and cool videos of the "sky-bombing action").

Petitions by Change.orgStart a Petition

Saber protests with 'Skybombing'

West Coast graffiti legend, SABER, best known for creating the world's largest graffiti piece (in the L.A. River, back in the 90s), just took graffiti bombing to a whole other level today!

As his way of protesting the Los Angeles' mural moratorium he got some skywriting jets to "tag" over City Hall. The planes "threw up" Twitter hashtags like #ArtIsNotACrime and #EndMuralMoratorium. The planes also wrote monikers of some of the crews and graffiti artists that Saber associates with (and/or respects), such as: Risk, Retna, Revok, Obey, Dream and many others.

The LA Taco blog was the first to report and post photos of this unique art installation. They also had some very good commentary, saying, "The Mural Capital of the World, has been able to find massive amounts of public space for corporate advertisements, but not for works of art. The city spends more than $10,000,000+ on graffiti abatement programs, but none on mural programs that divert young artist to legal walls to display their art. Existing murals are crumbling and the city’s best artists are forced to go to Europe and other US cities to display their largest and best works."

Indeed, as the LA Weekly also pointed out, it has become OK for the city to flood skyline with billboards for advertisements, but it's not cool to have beautiful public art. Some might remember, earlier this year, a property owner had to cover up some very-well done graffiti art that had been commissioned by young artists because the city deemed it as "illegal advertising." And, just today, the beautiful work that had been done on private property in Santa Monica to raise awareness for Heal the Bay, also had to be taken down.

So, much props has to be given to Saber for calling out City Hall on this. Let's see if anything happens. Also, stay tuned to The 7th Letter site for more pics and updates...