Sandow Birk Mural Controversy

20 Mar Sandow Birk Mural Controversy

Posted at 09:33h in Musings by

Sandow It seems there’s a bit of controversy in Boyle Heights over the planned mural by Long Beach based artist Sandow Birk. At first glance Sandow did seem a surprising choice for the mural and the location, but after digesting the story a bit I think a little controversy in public art is a good thing, because we all know that most public art is complete crap. Exhibit A…I rest my case.

Update: Regina Hackett’s take on public art.

Print page
0 Likes
OC Art Blog
suzanne@saltfineart.com
4 Comments
  • DS
    Posted at 10:10h, 20 March

    “In October 2004, the Cultural Affairs agency and Birk showed the images of the proposed mural to the Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council, which had no veto power. The group had some criticisms and suggestions — including having a woman at a garage sale selling Kobe Bryant T-shirts rather than Shaquille O’Neal shirts. Birk followed a few of their ideas — like eliminating a scene of a man using a leaf blower. He replaced him with a man wearing a zoot suit.”
    I can’t stop laughing. The “Exhibit A” article is pretty hilarious too.

  • C-Monster
    Posted at 08:07h, 21 March

    omg. that surf sculpture is hilarious. looks like some sort of martha graham dance move that guy is doing on the board…

  • Janet
    Posted at 16:04h, 01 April

    You wouldn’t be laughing if you were Latino. There are thousands of Latinos who were born and raised in LA, speak English, are educated, respect the American flag, vote and support their police officers. This mural doesn’t reflect any of that. It’s the most negative stereotypes of Latinos on a mural. Cultural Affairs hid this mural from the community for four years. Then when the community saw it they were outraged. I understand 1st amendments right to voice an opinion but this crosses the line into racism at its core.

  • David Romero
    Posted at 17:49h, 18 April

    It’s unfortunate that artists are neglected like this. 50 or 100 years from now this piece will be seen as genius. Michelangelo was expelled from his peers for depictions of The Bible in th Sistine Chapel and now many people revere his work centuries later. People have been afraid to speak the truth in culture and now much of what we learn about history are lies.