2008 columns
    2007 columns
    2005 columns
  Back to Home
   
a53 12/30/06 - Half the resolution is optimism
a52 12/23/06 - As the solstice turns
a51 12/16/06 - Shopping for Person X
a50 12/09/06 - My dinner with Joni
a49 12/02/06 - Want quirky sex? Turn to fiction
a48 11/25/06 - For whom the biological clock ticketh
a47 11/18/06 - Eviting trouble
a46 11/11/06 - More information, less reading
a45 11/04/06 - Slogans over sentences
a44 10/28/06 - Avid consumers, or just crazy?
a43 10/21/06 - Road Rage on Information Superhighway
a42 10/14/06 - The State of Student Activism
a41 10/07/06 - $4k Cat Is Nothing to Sneeze At
a40 09/30/06 - Housing Party Collapses
a39 09/23/06 - TiVo Tyranny -- The Latest in Self-Loathing
a38 09/16/06 - What's Do-ing in Fashion
a37 09/09/06 - Gentlemen, Start Your Clocks
a36 09/02/06 - Celebrating Labor -- by Working
a35 08/26/06 - JonBenet Wasn't the Only Victim
a34 08/19/06 - Jack FM May Be Annoying, But Jill's an Airhead
a33 08/12/06 - The Upside of Marrying Down
a32 08/05/06 - The Dope In All Of Us
a31 07/29/06 - Sweating Your Way to Enlightenment
a30 07/22/06 - Can't Get Enough Baby Talk
a29 07/15/06 - Behind Batwoman's Gayness
a28 07/08/06 - I'm with Google
a27 07/01/06 - Sadists in stilettoes
a26 06/24/06 - Coulter's a satirist -- really?
a25 06/17/06 - Models hawking model homes
a24 06/10/06 - Eyesores of L.A.
a23 06/03/06 - Lies, damn lies and marriage statistics
a22 05/27/06 - The Madonna diet
a21 05/20/06 - Goodbye to you, Mr. Smiley
a20 05/13/06 - Men with weak chins
a19 05/06/06 - Man of our dreams
a18 04/29/06 - Kaavya's so not happy ending
a17 04/22/06 - Guilty moms, the next generation
a16 04/15/06 - Major decisions for minors
a15 04/08/06 - Surveying the cultural manscape
a14 04/01/06 - Hedgehog nation
a13 03/25/06 - Sticky family values
a12 03/18/06 - Love 'em, hate 'em or clean the house
a11 03/11/06 - Middle school confidential
a10 03/04/06 - Crowding out a right to choose
a9 02/25/06 - Who's the idiot now?
a8 02/18/06 - Zillowing hits you where you live
a7 02/11/06 - The No-Om Zone: Yoga for Winners
a6 02/04/06 - Wrestling with the 'Heidi' effect
a5 01/28/06 - Harassed, or just bummed?
a4 01/21/06 - Public radio, private lives
a3 01/14/06 - Throwing the book at reality
a2 01/07/06 - A breakthrough called 'Brokeback'
a1 01/02/06 - Evolving resolving
 
     
Eyesores of L.A.
Why does good art die while scumbag billboards thrive?
June 10, 2006
LAST WEEK, artist Kent Twitchell's six-story mural, "Ed Ruscha Monument," which for over 20 years covered the side of a building in downtown L.A., was mysteriously painted over. Public reaction has ranged from shock to outrage to sorrow. Times' art critic Christopher Knight compared the news to "hearing of the unexpected death of a casual friend. I've been bouncing around various stages of grief — denial, bargaining, depression — with acceptance nowhere in sight."
Though we're often loath to admit it, deaths have a way of turning us into shrewd appraisers. Why, we wonder, did one person die rather than another? How can we possibly make sense of a world in which, on any given day, young, kindhearted people die of diseases and severe injuries while countless scumbags continue to live? Such is the case with this mural tragedy.
With so many eyesores in Los Angeles that we'd love to see obliterated, why did we lose something that's not only a celebrated work of art but also depicts a celebrated artist (Ruscha, a longtime Angeleno, is considered by some critics as influential as Andy Warhol and Donald Judd)? If only the elusive wielder of this giant roller brush could have tackled those kiddie-porn ads for American Apparel.
We don't yet know who's responsible for this defacement (although if a six-story advertisement for "The Break-Up" suddenly appears on the building, we might get an inkling). Even when the culprit is revealed, it's likely we still won't entirely understand his or her motivations. That's because if there's anything more confounding than universal healthcare or the story lines of "Deadwood," it's the nature of art — namely what it is, who decides and, alas, how many people really care?
Though Twitchell is a prominent and respected artist, there's no denying that public art has a bad reputation. That's because much of it is very, very bad. "Community art" conjures images of sterile, abstract sculptures, life-size statues of multiethnic folks waiting for the bus, or murals that suggest Malcolm X was actually a member of Pink Floyd.
Of course, those examples make for a grossly unfair generalization. Yes, plenty of cities purchase pre-made statues and memorials from foundries, but the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is also public art, as is some of the work of Richard Serra and Christo, though Christo doesn't accept government funding.
Jack Becker, editor of Public Art Review, says that as the culture becomes more diversified, artists and those who commission them face challenges that can compromise the final product. "We do get a lot of mediocre art because it often tries to appeal to several different communities at the same time," Becker said Thursday from his office in St. Paul, Minn. "But I think public art is perceived as an enhancement and a benefit generally. It's just that the whole question of how you evaluate it has never been resolved. And there's a lot of ignorance out there about artists' rights."
Though no one's suggesting at this point that Twitchell's mural was painted over in an act of willful aggression — more likely this is a case of bureaucratic cluelessness — the debacle highlights the degree to which the blurred lines between creative expression and commercial interests have undermined our ability to recognize art when we see it.
Every city in the United States is awash in images. There are advertisements on billboards and buildings. Corporate logos appear on T-shirts, car windows and even on people's faces (last year, a Utah woman auctioned her forehead on EBay and received $10,000 in exchange for a tattoo reading "Golden Palace Casino"). To compound the confusion, some advertisements look like art, and some billboards are actually rented to artists as a means of exhibition. And let's not forget guerrilla artist Ron English, who's famous for illegally altering billboard advertisements to make political statements (and getting arrested in the process).
No amount of ruminating can mitigate the injustice done to Twitchell's mural. All we can do is hope that Twitchell wins the lawsuit he's already filed and, moreover, that the perpetrator, once identified, is subject to some form of public humiliation (perhaps in the form of a mural). Though it may be in the eye of the beholder, art demands a respect that often takes the form of an honor code. That's not to say we shouldn't do our best to lobby for good art and prevent bronze statues of bus riders before they happen, but once the work is there, regardless of whether or not we like it, we must regard its preservation not as special interest but as a civic duty.
Unless, that is, we're talking about casino logos tattooed on foreheads, in which case the only civil thing to do is look the other way.
© Copyright 2006 Los Angeles Times
 
© 2008, Meghan Daum
 
Meghan Daum Quality of Life Report