= SOLDFiled under: Graffiti | Tags: A.W.R, AWR, Biggest Waste Of Money, Buffed Graffiti, Graffiti, History, L.A. River, LA River, Los Angeles, Los Angeles River, M.S.K., M.T.A., MSK, National Security, Saber, US Army Corps of Engineers, Your taxes going towards more stupid shit
So last spring I started a what I thought was going to be a 150′ fill-in on the Los Angeles River (Frogtown section). The first night, I rolled out 3 gallons of black/brown which only got a skinny outline done. It was more like the sketch so I’d know where to start filling in the next night. Well I couldn’t get back for the second session for a few days, but I figured “no biggie”; this was gonna be a big project and gonna take many nights. So I stroll up there a few nights later to start the filling in, and um…. I could swear I started it earlier that week. …Where was it?!! …Buffed?! What?! But the Saber piece was running for years. The MTA piece was just done. WTF?! Why me?!!! Little did I know, this was the beginning of something big. Or should I say the REMOVAL of some things big…
Turns out that even with these crazy economical times, they’ve come up with $837,000 to start to buff the Los Angeles River. Now if you don’t already know, the L.A. River is not exactly a beautiful “river”, but actually a literal drainage ditch with 60′ cement banks running through industrial and unvisited parts of Los Angeles. One of the only things the river has offered has been the enormous canvases for some of the largest murals on the planet.
the “SABER” piece. 60′ x 250′, 1997
(check out Saber himself siiting in the upper left part of the “B”)
“SABER” buffed September 2009 (above 4 photos: Known Gallery)
Then, last week, they had the US Army Corps of Engineers buff the MTA piece. Yup, the Army is now working to buff graffiti. Must be a national security issue. Gotta get the army to fight art done without permission. In related news, they’ve arrested 10 of the alleged MTA crew, and are charging them for the graffiti. They claim it took them 400 gallons of paint and 4 nights to do it. They also might be seeking to charge the crew the clean-up cost of $3.7 MILLION to buff it ($38 a square ft). What The Fuck?! Sounds like the Army Corp are the ones cleaning up. I’ll do that shit for $1 million. Fuck.. even $100,000.
“MTA” Piece, L.A. River, 60′ x 1700′, 2008
(above 3 photos: LaTaco.com )
“M” of the “MTA” buffed (photo: fotograffia.com)
MTA piece buffed, 10-11-2009 (photo: jondoeforty1)
Filed under: Photography | Tags: 2008, Adze, Alone, Alone One, Alone1, Art of Graffiti Removal, Bay Area, Bay Bridge, Blogs, Boston, Boxtruck, Bronx, Brooklyn, Buffed Graffiti, Caype, Celtics, Celtics Dancers, Cholo, Divorce, Dumpling House, East Coast, Echo Park, Ellis G., Ellis Gallagher, Fire Escapes, FTW, Gas, Graffiti, Hew Burney, Jesus Saves, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Lost, Lower East Side, M.T.A., Minivan, Nevada, New Years, New York, Noxer, NY, NYC, Obama, OD, Odee, r32, r33, r34, Red Wings, Redbird, Redbirds, San Francisco, Second St, Second St Tunnel, Slay, Subway, Taco Tuesday, Tacos Mexico, Travel, Union Pool, UW, Vault, Water Towers, West Coast, Williamsburg
2008 was a crazy year for me. The “divorce” was finally over and no more mortgage. I was set free in a lot of ways. Here’s some pics from the last year that never made the blog..
I drove (..yeah crazy already) about 15,000 miles in a year.
..even in a minivan, I can’t drive 55. Topped out at 117, shaking ALOT.
Spent alot of time in Los Angeles. Things are just different there.
LA doesn’t have so many Dunkin’ Donuts.
Galo and Size. Don’t know who did the cholo characters, but they are so LA and really dope.
FTW. These dudes were up in Echo Park.
Dope SLAY sticker. This dude was up, creepin tags in weird not-so-quick-to-buff spots.
”ADZE ” also had his ups.
Ellis G came through for a West Coast visit.
The Bay Area became my new second home.
Hew Burney came through with the pics when in Vegas..
Taco Tuesday dictated the schedule in ’08.
OD crew wasn’t being pushed anymore, partly due to a “bad apple” bumming out everyone. Something had to give, and it was either retire the crew or clean it up and move on. Bad apple removed.. new apples added.
Welcome to the family Caype OD.
Getting bored, and with the recomendation/encouragement from some friends, I started this blog.
Gas prices got out of control (I had to spend $5.15 a gallon once in Hollywood), leading me to drive less and steal more (gas). Which made LA suck even more.
..so even with all the beautiful weather and women, LA just wasn’t for me.
I was out.
East Coast <3 .
and oh yeah, huge political news.. Obama pulled it off.
Happy New Years!
