“End White Supremacy”

The artwork of Los Angeles-based American artist Sam Durant has often addressed social, political and cultural issues in bold ways. His work titled “End White Supremacy” was recently added to the collection of the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. The lettering style of this direct, unequivocal message was inspired by the hand-written sign carried by an American civil-rights protester in the 1960s. Durant put these words on the type of backlit commercial signage one sees at businesses and strip malls everywhere. The work amplifies a message of activism through the medium of business and advertising.

“Clear Air Turbulence”

“Clear Air Turbulence” is Hong Kong-based British artist Simon Birch’s monumental sculptural installation at his “14th Factory” exhibition in Los Angeles. The artwork is a rectangular black pool planted with the wings and tail fins salvaged from various old airplanes parked out in the Mojave desert at the so-called “airplane graveyard.” At first glance, these aircraft parts appear like the fins of giant sharks or whales lurking just beneath the surface of the water. 

Calvin & Hobbes Mural at Dangerbird

Pictured here is artist David Flores’s super-Instagrammable and super-cute mural depicting the classic comicstrip characters Calvin and Hobbes at the Dangerbird Records building in Los Angeles. There’s a mashup of graphic visions at play here. Flore’s work has a impressionistic illustrative style that relies on strong clean lines that organize the surfaces of his subjects into panels in various hues of a thematic color. The challenge here is rendering that style on popular characters that have an established and easily recognizable graphic identity. Calvin and Hobbes are drawn in a style by Bill Waterson, their original creator, that is distinct. Flores has managed to faithfully render Waterson’s characters and style and yet bring his recognizable aesthetic to the artwork.