Protest At MOCA Over Blu's Mural

The whitewashed wall at the MOCA Geffen Contemporary got a little splash of color last night when artists gathered to protest museum director Jeffrey Deitch. Street and political artists, as well as anti-war activists, staged a "protest performance" against his decision to paint over a controversial anti-war mural. The LA Times reports:

The group of artists -- which included respected Chicano artist/Vietnam War veteran Leo Limon as well as Joey Krebs a.k.a. The Phantom Street Artist -- took turns tagging the museum wall using a handmade laser graffiti gun created for the event by artist/computer programmer Todd Moyer. A specially designed computer program animated the light-graffiti so that it looked like dripping paint as it hit the wall.

Photos by Carol A. Wells, Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics and White Wash.

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Artist John Carr, one of the organizers of last night's protest, said this to the Huffington Post:

Jeffrey Deitch's whitewashing of Blu's anti-war mural is a clear cut case of censorship that has angered the arts community in Los Angeles. Antiwar sentiment is not so controversial in the American mainstream when at least 2/3 of the public [are] against the two major wars we are engaged in.

Photo courtesy of White Wash

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Artist John Carr, one of the organizers of last night's protest, said this to the Huffington Post:

Jeffrey Deitch's whitewashing of Blu's anti-war mural is a clear cut case of censorship that has angered the arts community in Los Angeles. Antiwar sentiment is not so controversial in the American mainstream when at least 2/3 of the public [are] against the two major wars we are engaged in.

Photo courtesy of White Wash

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Last December, Deitch had commissioned the artist Blu to create a mural on the outside wall of the museum. Due both to miscommunication (artist Shepard Fairey notes that Blu's sketches weren't approved by MOCA staff) and a sensitivity to the nearby Veterans Affairs hospital and war memorial, Deitch made the unpopular decision to paint over Blu's mural. The painting depicted coffins covered in one-dollar bills.

Comments

[sheila]

12:48 PM on 01/10/2011

it was never veterans he was concerned with offending, it was MONEY he was concerned with offending, and all his buddies in the rapacious Wall Street pyramid scheme who worship it. what did people expect when this tacky, hollywood wannabe money-grubber got the job? his first show was dennis hopper's paintings for chrissakes (universally agreed to be without artistic merit), with lady gaga of all the worst commercial sellout artists on the planet performing.

MOCA lost the plot a long time ago. museums are supposed to be "anti-galleries" not showplaces for monied donors to jack up the dubious value of their lame, dated collections. get a creative grownup in there who actually admires ART (and who is seriously educated about it) and you will see a legitimate MOCA renaissance, not a further sellout of LA and it's art institutions.

[LeeCalif]

02:52 PM on 01/06/2011

Our family won't be going to the MOCA on our LA trip. We usually include it.

This is sad and outrageous !

[Thomas Nagano]

05:49 PM on 01/04/2011

It's not an important mural except for the controversy over its image and location. The "artist just called Blu" is too young to have lived through the Vietnam War and its imagery. It's tough being original.

As an Italian artist “Blu” lacked knowledge and the "refinement of age" to realize the contextually sensitive location across from a Veteran Administration facility and adjacent to the World War II 442/MIS Japanese Veterans Monument made his mural inappropriate.

MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch demonstrated good judgment to have the clichéd mural painted over. -- TK

[RosiewhoRivets]

04:34 PM on 01/04/2011

Jeffrey Deitch ditched integrity by destroying Blu's provocative and important mural. The MOCA board is shockingly obsequious and complicit to this outrageous white wash. The Vichy Court of what used to be LA's premiere art destination needs to be dismantled from Deitch to the Board of Dunces. A shameful act that underscores Deitch's total lack of qualifications and a conscience to lead one of our nation's treasure troves. Makes me physically ill.

[revurt]

03:56 PM on 01/04/2011

link to video:

http://www.vimeo.com/18419889