iT'S STreeT arT THurSDay iN eaST HoLLyWooD! with Malibu AM Picture of the Day - March 10, 2016

Dear Street Art Lovers and assorted friends,

Holy Week is fast approaching it's time to start throwing some religious iconography your way. Mary, the mother of Christ, the Blessed Virgin, Heaven's Gate, etc. is a VERY popular subject for street artists. I come across her all the time. HOWEVER, most depictions are pretty ill conceived--they're fuzzy, they're very unschooled, colors are off, the artist can't really draw ... and on and on. That's why you don't see me post too many.

We have one today that's worthy of a sharing.  I call her "Our Lady of Melro-Nor."

Artist Elekstasy, "Our Lady of Melro-Nor," 

This one is interesting because her treatment is different from the typical one--light blue sky, woman with head covering dressed in blue and white flowing gowns, shining like the sun.

Mary is monochromatic grey, like a rendered statue. She's dark. Her surroundings are richly dark. She nevertheless give off a ruby and lavender halo and is framed by flashes of white light, with blood-red roses wide open in front of her (with ghostly transparent leaves). The standard street-art painting technique of allowing dripping paint a la Jackson Pollock et al. makes the world seem to be melting in her divine presence.

This mural is an overpainting of one of those mediocre Marys I mentioned earlier. She showed up maybe 9 months to a year ago? A welcome addition to probably what is one of the most busy corners in East Hollywood, Melrose and Normandie Avenue. It's a bottleneck because it's an onramp and offramp of the Hollywood Freeway dumping into a neighborhood with narrow streets, but it is the offramp destination closest to the popular K-Town and Melrose Shopping and entertainment Districts.

This was also one of the hardest murals to photograph because of traffic. The only time this intersection quiets down is after 1 AM at night, otherwise you will come to it at almost any time of day and wait at least through two cycles of streetlights.

If you're heading westbound on Melrose, you'll always spend about 5-10 minutes waiting under the overpass, which gives you plenty of time to study the people who live in the homeless encampments that set up under the freeway. Caltrans comes by and clears them out now and then, but they always come back to this popular spot which surprises me because those folks I'm sure know their every movement is watched by waiting motorists. There was a guy who looked like Jesus living there for many months along with his girlfriend. They'd sleep bundled up in blankets in an alcove that you couldn't help but flash your headlights on as you come off the northbound 101.

This was the hardest shot to take because there's always a car parked in front of the very short sidewalk in front of it (because there are several apartments nearby with no provided parking slots), so you have to stand across the street and shoot in-between cars passing by on the rare day with no parked car or van.

I think I was there for almost 20 minutes. Anyway, I'm glad I collected her and I share her with you today.




AND NOW BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED SEASCAPE:

We are enjoying some clear skies before the next El Nino storm system starts coming through, probably starting tomorrow. The white cloud cover makes the ocean here likewise white.

And more toward the south we have these icy cirrus clouds up top. Just a hint of the smog inversion you can see near the horizon.

That's it for today kids. Enjoy your Thursday.

Love,
Pops