Thursday, January 14, 2016

iT'S STreeT arT THurSDay in eaST HoLLYWood! Thursday, January 14, 2016

Dear Street Art Lovers and assorted spare parts:

Artist unattributed, Be the Change #1,
paint on signal box.
Is it that time already? My a week goes by so fast.  We were looking at some fine examples of the "Signal Box" genre last week.  Let's stay with that and look at a fine signal box piece at Western Avenue and Hollywood Blvd.

We have no artist attribution on this at all. But Jesus Christ, here we have a mash-up of the Prince of Peace himself, holding a necklace-size version of his Crown of Thorns against a background of a coin with a fragment of Mahatma Gandhi's advice: "Be the change that you wish to see in the world."

Not quite sure what the artist is getting at with his statement that the "change" here looks a lot like a penny, the least valuable of all coins.

Nevertheless, the "necklace" of thorns is also interesting. I imagine it goes on much easier, and it need not hurt if you're careful. That could a Jesus for our times, eh? Try not to get hurt if you avoid it? And  is that some fancy-ass decorative sleeve he's got on his dalmatica gown done by some super retro Israeli designer. And this Jesus wears not a cross around his neck (Man, what a downer!), but a cute, nice little, sentimental heart. Adorable! Yes I really want to change the world now.

Several weeks after I snapshotted this here Jesus, I was up on Franklin Avenue near the elementary school and I spotted this artist's companion piece. It makes me think there must be others in this series, and I need to go find them.





Artist unattributed, Be the Change #2, 
paint on signal box.

This one has an athletic young woman wearing a red cross imploring us to "TEACH PEACE". So now the "TCHR" on the coin is clearly an abbreviation for "TEACHER" and I think we can safely assume the slogan on the bottom of both subjects' coins is "TEACH LOVE."

The person on the penny has too much hair to be our friend Mohandas; and the hair is too straight and wavy to be the likely MLK.

So I have no idea who that might be. Nor do I have any ideas on who this young woman is either. If you do, leave a comment. The face is distinctive enough that I'm pretty sure she's not a "non-player character" type .

In any case, the sentiment expressed here is to be pure and righteously "white," even if the change you manage to effect is small. And a fine sentiment it is as we roll into this weekend leading up to Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday on Monday.

By the way, I'll be away on Friday and off work on Monday, so the Malibu picture blog will be taking a hiatus those days. Just a heads up. I have been told by my employer that they'll be relocating my office into the West San Fernando Valley for a few years while they do major renovations on campus, probably at the start of summer. So sadly, this is my first announcement that the end of the Malibu picture blog will be coming soon. But we'll talk about that more in the weeks to come.



Oh, there's another picture of the opposite side of the Jesus Box. It's a view of our famous Griffith Park Observatory. Probably done by schoolchildren. The maker's mark was not really legible.

A delightful image to grace our fair city nonetheless. Thank you dear unnamed artists! If you get up the Observatory, make sure you take in the show/movie that they run up there.

If you're my age, you probably remember a fairly dry lecture presentation when your science class took a field trip up there, with a guy using a laser pointer to indicate a star or planet. Now they have multimedia presentations that are slicker than snot, so do indulge yourself.






















BUT LET'S ENJOY THE DAILY PICTURE FROM THE MALIBU COAST WHILE IT LASTS, SHALL WE?




























It's rather hazy this morning, with a lot of visible moisture, but not quite fog, in the air here on the coast. This shot gives you the best indication that that is so.

And here another look to the right of that.

And, dear people, that wraps up my week with you I'm afraid.

Have a glorious Friday, and a fabulous, long MLK Holiday Weekend. Throw a peace sign at someone would ya?

Love,
Pops

-----
31-Day Paleo Diet Log

Wed, 1/13/2016
Weight: 231
Blood pressure: 118/70
Mood: from mild anxiety to good
Energy level: sufficient to the day
Temperature regulation: good
Congestion: nothing noticeable
Notes: No afternoon drowsy-wall situation continues--very pleased with that. Feel ready to resume bicycle commute to/from Culver City to Sta Monica in my routine.
Food: chicken, eggs, peppers, olives, nuts, ham, apple, berries, avocados





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