If you travel by rail between Berlin and Halle, Germany, and pay attention to the passing landscape, you will eventually set eyes on a 350-foot-long graffiti mural (obligatory football field metric: two and a third). It’s a series of detailed scenes: a laboratory overrun by rats, a shipping port under dark clouds, galleons fighting through rough waters and a giant octopus, and a cityscape at sunset. The graffiti name of the artist, MadC, is ubiquitous.
I’ve lived in Los Angeles for over three years and never had the urge to step onto the Metro until this past Saturday. I’m not a fan of public transportation. Something about cramming into a tiny train car underground and being smashed up against random strangers just doesn’t sit right with me. That was of course until I learned that under the city of Los Angeles resides not only the metro system but also an entire community of art. The first Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday of every month, residents of Los Angeles are given the opportunity to meet at designated stations for a complimentary two-hour tour of the Metro Art Program’s featured station exhibits. The program was founded in 1989 as a means to incorporate art into the Los Angeles transit system with the purpose of beautifying transportation stations and engaging riders with a cultural background of the city. To date, the program has commissioned over 300 artists for various station projects. Each station has its own unique imagery, which ties in the local neighborhood aesthetics with the theme of transportation as a whole.
The folks at Atticus Clothing have swallowed up the shelves of 1Louder with their new spring line of apparel, which they celebrated in a big way on Friday night’s official “soft release” party. In order to kick off the first of many events that Atticus has planned in conjunction with 1Louder, Brian Ewing was flown into town from New York and asked to paint the largest mural that he has ever attempted. Who is Brian Ewing? He’s is a freelance illustrator who has applied his creative juices to creating artwork for various bands, publishers, and corporations including: Van’s Warped Tour, Star Wars, Hustler, Budweiser, DC Comics, Guitar World, and Marvel Comics, just to name a few. Aside from a collection of artwork that is deemed increasingly buzz-worthy, Brian is also preparing for the release of his book, Don’t Hold Your Breath.
