(Who's Afraid Of) The Art Of Transportation

The Militant celebrated four years of blogging with a nice bike ride on Thursday around Downtown Los Angeles. He felt inspired.

Transportation -- of any and every kind -- is perhaps the most consistent visual motif in Los Angeles. From bikes on the streets to bus lines on the boulevards to cars on the freeway to trains underground to airplanes overhead, we're all about coming from somewhere and going somewhere, with several million reasons, feelings and stories interspersed with every block, exit, stop or station we encounter. Transportation inspires us to react -- whether we cuss, relax, pedal harder, Tweet, blog or even create art.

Donwtown Los Angeles art gallery Crewest, which specializes in modern urban art, is currently exhibiting "The Art Of Transportation," featuring the works of over 30 artists, all depicting visual art on or inspired by various transportation vehicles: from trains to planes to automobiles (buses, bikes, trucks and freeway infrastructure are well-represented too).

Many of the pieces are works of graffiti artists who do pieces on railroad freight cars, some of which are photographs of their pieces. But a few of them have put their pieces on model railroad cars, which are part of the exhibit as well.

One of the artists, Benny Boggs, who goes by the graffiti name "Diar," has a few pieces displayed on G- and HO-scale boxcars (pictured left). What makes his story remarkable was that he was paralyzed from the neck-down in a car accident in 2008, but that didn't let him stop his desire to create. Since then, he's done paintings and model train graffiti pieces -- painted with a brush guided by his mouth.

Aside from a couple paintings and models of graff'd-out NYC subway cars, this exhibit is undeniably Los Angeles, with the familiar local images of miniature freeway signs as a canvas, photos of Metro Rail trains, local freight railroads, even a painting of an old-school RTD bus (That's Metro's predecessor agency for all you newly transplanteds). Best of all, most of the artists are native Angelenos/Southern Californians, so they ain't frontin'!

In case you don't know, this exhibit is MILITANT-APPROVED and y'all should check this out before it closes down on June 26. Crewest is a little east of Gallery Row, around the corner from Blossom Vietnamese restaurant on Main. It's a 4 1/2 block walk from the (M) Pershing Square station. Or you can just bike in -- they were even cool with The Militant bringing his bike inside!

Islands In The Street, That Is What They Are

The Militant has to be very careful when writing anything Downtown-based. Why? Because but a few seconds after clicking on "Publish Post," any one of the various Downtown Los Angeles-based bloggers will be ready to pounce on you with a "Been there, done that" and a link to their post, perhaps written decades ago, covering the very same topic. But hey, the Militant is citywide, and means to stake no claim into their urban fiefdom, and his likewise citywide (even statewide, heck, nationwide) readership are there specifically to read about the Militant's take on a little slice of El Pueblo.

So enough of the needlessly lengthy intro...

The Militant, who was in DTLA late last week, took a little jaunt from Little Tokyo to Union Station and happened upon this curious brown sign (pictured above) on a traffic island at Alameda and Aliso streets, right in the shadow of the (M) Gold Line Eastside Extension aerial bridge.

It read, "ISLANDS OF LA NAT'L PARK" along with a url fo' mo' info fo' all yo' mofos.

The www.islandsofla.com website explains that it's all part of a DIY idea for, "revitalizing public space by turning traffic islands into territories of art...The intention is to use art as a vehicle to promote community, discussion and cultural interchange as well as explore the use and availability of public space."

Sounds kinda familiar. don't it? But hey, it's a 21st century thing. The Militant, who has roamed these environs for nearly four decades will let you know that this whole public space-public art synergy is something that's only been talked about in the past few years. Back then, "public art" was just a mural, and not anything conceptual or three-dimensional.

The project even has its own blog as well, which exists mostly for the purpose of discussing public art/space issues and add a literary bent to some of the created and proposed traffic islands in the "National Park" (wonder if the U.S. Dept. of the Interior knows anything about this...).

The Militant doesn't have to tell you what he thinks (but he will anyway). This gets the Militant's Seal of Approval. As someone who's dabbled in public art as well, the Militant looks forward to more, and perhaps seeing more of these islands citywide.

Graf Of Ages

Taking a cue from Blogging.la's "ICME" (It Caught My Eye) series, while the Militant took his taking-advantage-of-the-clear-sunny-day afternoon stroll, the sight of a building under construction in Hollywood on Santa Monica Blvd near Serrano Ave caught his eye. Sure, buildings get built all the time in development-targeted Hollywood, but apparently this building is being constructed on a formerly-empty lot which afforded taggers and graffiti artists alike to spray their wares - only to have it covered by the adjoining structure.

The Militant, who has been described by some as having the Native American-like ability to think seven generations towards both the past and the future, wonders whenever this new building sees the wrecking ball (in favor of overpriced market-rate so-called "loft" apartments - probably not more than one or two generations away), the urban archaeologists of the future will notice the then-antiquated aerosol markings made by those in a bygone era. That is, if the adjoining building doesn't get hit by the wrecking ball (or a large quake) itself. Only time will tell...

Here Come The Biters!

Yes, making three posts in one day is an excuse to make up for lost time.

But after the Militant returned from his Eastside (Happy now, El Chavo!?) adventure, while passing though the uber-hip(ster) Sunset Junction in Silver_Lake, after craning his neck to see the artificially-verdant hills of Griffith Park, hanging on overhead wires above Sunset Blvd, the Militant spotted the worst incident of bird-biting since Ozzy Osbourne's 1983 world tour (pictured right).

W...T...F...is that? Some stupid logo that looks like a backwards "k," an "l" and a forward "k." The Militant means, come ON! The original wire-hanging Berd was cool and all - the Militant took it as some sort of natural/pleasant contrast/commentary on those sneakers hanging on overhead wires (and the public perception of such phenomena). So little painted plywood Berds hanging on wires, secured by padlocks (perhaps representing some sort of confinement or imprisonment) were a cool thing. But this...no really, this has got to stop. Whoever you are "klk"...really, give it up before you embarrass yourself further. Seriously.

The Militant's Street Art Debut

Then

Now

Inspiration hits the Militant.

It all started when the Militant wanted to do a simple "Now and Then" comparison shot of Sanborn Junction (a.k.a. Sunset Junction; the former was what the Pacific Electric Railway actually called it). Unfortunately, after the Militant checked the "Now" picture taken on Monday, it didn't capture the same sort of perspective as the original. Perhaps, because he didn't have the original on him to compare it to. Duh.

So the next day, the Militant was ready, printout of the original pic in hand, the slightly crumpled paper folded in half, complete with web URL printed at the top of the page, flapping gently from the wind. But when it was time to take the picture, the little digital cam screen read: "NO CARD."

The Militant hates when that happens.

But suddenly he had an idea. So he returned to the compound, downloaded the original late 1940s-era picture and did some art magic. Some cardboard, some gluestick, some stapled yarn.

Later in the day, he makes the third attempt - proverbially, "the charm," correct? He snaps his "Now" picture, but notices an increased police car presence on the street. You know what the date is (The Militant is not a ter'rist). So he rides for a bit and ends up a little further down Sunset to make his return. Coast is clea...oops wait...okay, coast is clear now so he hangs the yarn on a protruding rusty nail that has probably been on the telephone pole when the wee Militant rode past the area on the RTD.

And there it is. A photo of the original, late 1940s junction with a Red Car in it. And a message inscribed, reading:

"Silver_Lake History Indicates the Presence of Streetcars" - complete with a quasi-subliminal message illustrated by the choice highlighting of certain letters in that sentence.

So there it is, on the northwest corner of Sunset and Sanborn, where Santa Monica boulevard ends its 14-mile journey from the sea:


Stop by for a look, hopefully if it's still there.

Militant Update: 9/12/07 - Okay, which one of you grabbed it?

Absolut Reality

The Militant can be rather verbose, but at times the Militant lifestyle can be downright tiring, so this Militant is going to keep it (relatively) brief today.

Pasted ad bills are a common urban sight, hawking everything from events to cable TV shows to movies to CDs, posted in multiples as if its repetitive motif as an artistic statement transcends its original intention as a visual advertisement, ever temporary, until they are pasted over by another ad. But this particular one in the hood caught this Militant's eye. This one (pictured left) for Sweden's Absolut Vodka depicts an "Absolut World" where the urbane concrete flood control ditch known as the Los Angeles River is a lush urban greenbelt, filled with enough pristine-quality agua to support boats and other recreational watercraft. It's almost as if this ad agency consulted the Los Angeles River Master Plan instead of one of those hegemonic Madison Avenue ad executives. Who knew an alcohol ad could be something Friends of the Los Angeles River could love?

Berd of Paradise

Continuing his theme of "Neat things I saw around the neighborhood as an excuse to make today's blog entry" the Militant presents one of the newest "Berd" installations by the enigmatic Angeleno street artist named Browne, located in the general area of the Militant's compound, at Vermont and Melrose avenues (pictured right). From a different vantage point, the Militant saw the plywood-rope-and-padlock wonder of the Berd juxtaposed against a background of clear blue summer sky, the tip of a Vermont Avenue Canary Island pine tree and the majestic uncloaked ridgelines of both the Verdugo and the San Gabriel mountains looming boldly in the distance.You just had to see it to believe it. To quote the great Angeleno songsmith Randy Newman, "Looks like another perfect day..."