on Traction Avenue, just off 1st and Alameda in Downtown LA, there is a burgeoning art community that has been going strong for decades. just recently it became a major hotspot, in part to the Downtown revitalization program that took place a few years ago. more and more businesses are opening up around this tiny community by the outskirts of downtown, and with it drawing more crowds from all over the city. it's cool to hang in downtown now! as little as 8 years ago, you couldn't drive south on Alameda past 1st street unless you had a death wish or were dealing
drugs. now you see all sorts of people from all walks of life mingling and hanging out, calling this place home.
i have lived in L.A. all my life. i am one of those unique creatures you meet on the street who was born and raised in Los Angeles and is in no way related to the movies/entertainment industry. i'm an everyday person with a mundane job just trying to make a living. well, i DID have a job until i got laid off in 2009. now i'm just a stay at home mom to a wonderful baby girl. i grew up on the east side and have lived all over the city. i recently started living in downtown when my husband and i bought a loft in 2009. i take my baby out for walks in the surrounding area and i like to take photographs on my iPhone of all the cool street art and bills i see posted around the neighborhood.
i love how this tiny stretch of the city has an ever changing art gallery on the walls of public places. it changes form week to week so you have to keep up otherwise you might miss something with a powerful impact. the art ranges from political, current, nostalgic and even whimsical.
recently, we have had an international artist grace some of our public spaces with his dynamic portraits. i was lucky enough to have spotted his crew pasting up an installation on what is now the Angel City Brewery. they had a crane up on the street and were taking video of the piece they had just completed.
it was very cool to have been witness to an art installation. i was even videotaped when asked for my reaction to the piece so i might even be in an art film! the French artist JR has done an installation around the city of Los Angeles, mainly on Melrose Avenue, according to his crew. they found it very ironic to be in LA and it was raining! still, their paper art hung on tight and can still be seen.
here is another piece that can be found near the 4th street bridge near Molino Avenue.
i hope you get to witness this art for yourself before the wind and rain take it away.
DISCLAIMER:
this was just an introductory post for this blog, i don't plan on being this verbose in the future. i plan on just letting the pictures speak for themselves. (posting pictures and adding text is lots of formatting work i don't have time for anyway! i'm not a magazine publisher, just talking here.) i will try to upload the pictures as i see them, but that may not always happen due to having a child that keep me away from the computer a lot! i hope you all enjoy the pictures and come visit the Arts District.
in the meantime visit JR's website:
http://www.jr-art.net/and check out a talk he gave at TED earlier this month:
http://www.ted.com/talks/jr_s_ted_prize_wish_use_art_to_turn_the_world_inside_out.html
this little guy above is the most recent work seen in the neighborhood. he appears as an inset of another work seen below.
not sure if the Warhol homage is also done by Phil, but it's cool nonetheless.
