Another great project from Los Angeles-graffiti artist and social activist, Saber. Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement, Saber is participating by creating an art project revolving around the American flag. Here is his statement…
Its October 14, 2011, day 28 of #OccupyWallstreet. America is rocked. The world is watching, the media is manipulating, people are energized. Citizens have come together to express their frustration with corruption through this robust and peaceful protest movement.
Occupy Wall Street is the first real protest movement of my generation. Satellite movements have sprung up in every major city across the country including Los Angeles. Making art is the best way I know how to participate and what a better way then to create a huge American Flag that breaks up into 64 individual protest signs laid on the South East lawn of City Hall. The slogans written on each sign were grabbed from the related Twitter hash tag topics on #OccupyWallstreet #OccupyLA. With the frustrations of the 99% mounting, Pandora’s Box has been thrust open. Complacency is no longer an option…………
Saber released an official video of all the skywriting and an official press release below. To show your official support of his movement go here and sign his petition to end the mural moratorium in LA.
End Mural Moratorium. Art Is Not A Crime…
The reason I hired five jet planes to sky write over City Hall and downtown Los Angeles is to bring awareness to how ridiculous a moratorium on public art is.
The city states that all public murals are signage, effectively banning art from the walls of Los Angeles. And it is removed at the taxpayers’ expense. Money is given to private graffiti removal companies, who have broken onto private property to paint murals beige. The owners of small businesses where murals have been painted have been harassed and threatened with fines if they do not remove the artwork. Police officers raid homes and places of work, intimidating artists and building owners. During this time of economic crisis, “mural signs” are an easy target for the city to extract money. This moratorium is a clear violation of the first amendment right to free speech and enforcement for these unreasonable laws is a complete waste of taxpayer funds.
To put things in perspective I recently visited the beautiful set of murals inside the Terminal Annex Building on Alameda. This mural was painted in 1941-44 and was funded by the “Works Progress Administration” (WPA). Murals are just a part of the legacy of a national program that put the country to work during the Great Depression.
Fast-forward to the Great Recession, taxpayer money is now used to obliterate all traces of the artwork my generation have created. I believe this is city-funded censorship pushed by lawmakers with personal vendettas. Potential jail time is more probable for us than the opportunity of creating an artistic legacy for the next generation. In a city that used to proudly call itself the “Mural Capitol Of The World,” the officials who enforce this ban should be ashamed to call themselves “Angelinos.”
Upper Playground gets some nice coverage via Saber’s skywriting project this past Monday on NBC KTLA. Make sure you check Saber’s petition and blog post about the Moratorium on Public Art here.
Saber, always one to be an outspoken supporter of graffiti, street art, public art, mural art, etc, has taken to the skies above Los Angeles for a skywriting project to draw awareness to LA city council’s moratorium on public art in Los Angeles. Because a billboard for the new Sarah Jessica Parker movie looks soooo much better.
When you can’t take it to the streets, take it to the skies. Saber is taking the message of ending the ban that LA City Council has placed on murals in Los Angeles since 2002 and plastering it all over the skies using skywriting jets. $10 million is a lot to spend on graffiti abatement without spending a dime on legal mural programs. Pass the message along over twitter with #EndMuralMoratorium and #ArtIsNotACrime at the LA mayor @Villaraigosa.
LA graffiti legend, Saber, is opening a new solo show at Opera Gallery in NYC this coming May 6, 2011, and there is an extensive trailer film made for the occasion. The show, especially for such a vocal representation of graffiti like Saber, is appropriately titled, “The American Graffiti Artist.” Hopefully more show images to follow in the coming weeks…
