Four Guardians Production for City of Oakland

The City of Oakland is testing out a radical (for California) concept of commissioning murals in redevelopment areas in the hopes of deterring vandalism while improving the area. In this case they understood the importance of supporting urban art that would be well received by both the surrounding community and the graffiti community. It was great that youth participation was a requirement of the project, because that gives more people a sense of ownership of the mural, and community pride.

This may be the largest and most visible mural within Oakland city limits. Created for the City of Oakland, it measures 22' H x 125' L. It faces the train tracks and 880 freeway.



The concept was developed by 357 and myself. 357 designed the phoenix. I designed the rest. Our goal here was for the larger shapes to be easily identifiable from the highway, and if people walk up to the wall, then they will see the details in each one. We have incorporated elements from contemporary hip-hop art forms within the body of each creature with the intention of connecting the younger generation with the old myths, culture, and ways.

Here is the traditional meaning behind each creature. Many pardons if we have butchered this.



KIRIN (UNICORN)
It ate fire in its ravenous fury, but it was specially praised for being able to discriminate between good and evil, and that it would gore the wicked whenever it meets them. Appearing only when there was a wise and virtuous ruler, and that it had a discriminating mind that enabled it to know when benevolent rulers or wise sages would appear in the world. It was considered to be able to walk on water, and that it had a perfect goodwill, gentleness, and benevolence to all living creatures. It is so gentle that when it walks it is careful not to tread on the tiniest living creature and will not even eat live grass but only what is dead. The span of this animal's natural life is a thousand years. In Chinese mythology, the Unicorn was an animal of good omen that came to humans only on important missions.



FENGHUANG (PHOENIX)
In Chinese mythology, the phoenix is the symbol of high virtue and grace, of power and prosperity. It represents the union of yin and yang. It was thought to be a gentle creature, alighting so gently that it crushed nothing, and eating only dewdrops. It symbolized the Empress usually in a pairing with a dragon (the dragon representing the Emperor), and only Empress could wear the phoenix symbol. The phoenix represented power sent from the heavens to the Empress. If a phoenix was used to decorate a house it symbolized that loyalty and honesty was in the people that lived there. Jewelry with the phoenix design showed that the wearer was a person of high moral values, and so the phoenix could only be worn by people of great importance.



DRAGON
The Chinese New Year Dragon is the emblem of guardianship and vigilance. The Chinese dragon has long been a potent symbol of auspicious power in folklore and art. The Dragon is a beneficent and gracious creature and is worshipped as the divine ruler of Lakes, Rivers and Seas. It is the powerful yet gentle ‘Loong" that brings rain to the earth, hasten the crops and cools the toiling framer. The Chinese dragon is traditionally also the embodiment of the concept of yang (male) and associated with the weather as the bringer of rain and water in an agriculturally water-driven nation. Its female counterpart is the Fenghuang (phoenix).

The dragon is the largest character I have painted to date. It took Mike Bam and I ten days to paint. It is equal to four normal sized pieces.



TORTOISE
The tortoise represents longevity, of steadfast effort, of deliberate action that inevitably leads to success. The combination of the Dragon and Tortoise combines the qualities of both animals into a potent symbol of success and longevity. Dragon Tortoise symbolizes good fortune and longevity.

Vogue and Erin Yoshi helped pull this tortoise together in 6 days.



David Platford came through and drew all the mountains. Vogue and I painted all the trees, which was the most fun, unrestricted things to paint in the whole project. The background was rolled out by many friends and students from Visual Element.





The two teeth under the tongue are my favorite things I painted in this production. I like the pink glow, the shadows, and the depth.



Here is the original mock up. We stayed pretty faithful to it.



We could not have done it without the help of many friends and supporters. Thank you all!

Clarion Alley Mural Cuba x Estria x Ceyba

Here's a two day production I did with the legendary Cuba in San Francisco's famous Clarion Alley. It runs between Mission St. and Valencia St. between 17th and 18th Streets.

We painted this freestyle jam a week after the Estria Invitational Graffiti Battle in October. It was a huge honor for me to finally paint with one of the first graffiti artists on the west coast. Cuba started painting in '79 in Baltimore and got serious in SF in '83. It was also an historic moment for me as it was my first mural in Clarion.



Cuba's health is not good, yet no complaints. He just got up on the ladder and did his thing. You got to admire that. Such a cool, humble cat. Doesn't call himself a king despite a long list of firsts under his belt. The man just loves to paint, and you can't help but feel that around him. It's contagious.



Clarion is well known as a mural alley. Whereas SF's first mural alley, Balmy Alley is known for political murals, Clarion is known for being open to subject matter. Yes it does include some hipster stuff.





Thanks to Ceyba for video taping and interviewing Cuba. (We'll post later.) Thank you also for bringing the family and homies and making it a great day to be alive in la Mission.



Photos courtesy Mike Bam Tyau

Nixon exposition @ Sino Shop

I stopped by the Nixon show at Sino Shop this past Friday to check out some work by this local writer who has been getting up ever since I have been paying attention to graffiti in Montreal. Sino Shop offered a great venue and space for Nixon`s show that easily had about 30 of his pieces up on the walls including a couple of minor installations. The size, quality, and price of the pieces also covered a wide spectrum ranging anywhere from $20 for small name pieces to $250 for more elaborate and thematic art pieces.

There was also a nice mixture of canvass types: plastic/plexi-glass, poster board, baseball cards, regular canvasses, wood, and other objects like spray cans, a toy truck, and some play-do. There was also a green dragon (or something like it) made of papier mache (I think) in the middle of the room that I'm pretty sure someone was riding at some point, a plate of cold cuts and hamburger meat fashioned into Nixon's moniker, and a tagged up waste paper can.

There was a solid turn out of folks walking through checking the art work, mingling, chatting, and having a few drinks to the beats the DJ was kicking out behind one of the main counters where he was set up (I didn't get his name but he was putting out some good stuff). Sino, who runs the shop, was balancing his time walking through the shop and hanging out at the main counter area chatting it up with writers and others passing through. The show was certainly a success evidenced by a great turn out and a good number of pieces having been marked "sold" by the time I left around 9:30 pm.
Here are a few shots of the opening night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The exposition is running until the 19th of December 2009 so if you want to get your hands on some original, well priced works by a local writer then stop on by Sino Shop at 2817 rue Ontario Est, just off of Frontenac metro.

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