L.J. Williamson

Street art is a commentary on the nature of ownership, and the push-pull between public and private property. Using the city as a stolen canvas is in and of itself an artistic statement that art hemmed into the confines of a gallery or museum could never make.

The questions that street art raises -- "who does this city belong to?" and "who gets to decide what it looks like?" will always be a source of tension -- the sort of tension inherent in city life.

Pop star Chris Brown, of "F.A.M.E." fame, has placed himself at the center of that sort of tension in his Hollywood Dell neighborhood by painting a tableau of monster faces on his otherwise elegant home. The ensuing conflict with neighbors, which made front page news and which Brown plainly courted, can be framed a number of ways, but primarily it's an argument between "a man's home is his castle" versus community standards.

Like great architecture, great art installations seek harmony with the surrounding environment -- or if not harmony, then a pointed juxtaposition. Driving up Rinconia Drive in the lushly overgrown Hollywood Dell, when one happens upon the Brown home, the effect is neither. The curbside paintings stick out, to be sure, but in an opportunistic, rather than a deeply considered way. Round the corner and there they are, but the images aren't as glaring on the the approach as one would suspect from newspaper photos -- because of their orientation on the street, passersby view them from the side rather than head-on. In fact, most of Brown's paintings are tucked away into the recessed portions of the house's façade, seeming downright discreet.

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Hanksy

Weird Gal Yankovic

See also:
*5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week
*10 Best L.A. Art Galleries For Partying

Banksy is so 2010. Hanksy, the similarly secretive street artist and love child of Banksy and Tom Hanks, is reaching his own level of notoriety thanks to his celeb-inspired murals, the subject of Gallery 1988's upcoming exhibit, "How the West Was Pun," which opens May 24.

A couple of years ago, the Brooklyn-via-Midwest, 20-something law school dropout started spray painting Hanks' mug on stenciled images of Banksy in New York, which led to a couple of gallery shows. He's put up similar work in Chicago. (Dude even made it to the White House).

Earlier this year, Hanksy began lurking in our midst, creating street art inspired by Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Ellen DeGeneres, James Franco, Bradley Cooper and Christopher Walken, and accompanied by funny tag lines, in Hollywood along Melrose, Downtown and Culver City. You may have come across "Cage Against the Machine," "The Walken Dead" and our personal favorite, "Weird Gal Yankovic."

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Calamardojo, photo courtesy of Wonderland Gallery

Belin

See also:
*5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week
*Los Angeles' War on Street Artists

At the back of Kat Von D's High Voltage Tattoo shop, 20 distinct spray-painted faces stare back at you. This detailed mural wraps around the wall space in the parking lot, the shock of red hair on Von D's head standing out from the crowd.

The tattoo vixen and TV personality didn't employ just anyone to do the job. She flew out an artist who'd never been to L.A. -- Spanish street artist Belin. He completed the task back in 2010 (and appeared on Von D's reality show LA Ink) and will now show his exhibit "True or False Superheroes" at Kat Von D's Wonderland Gallery in West Hollywood, opening tonight from 8 to 10 p.m. and running through July.

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Gabrielle Canon

Fabian Debora

See also:
*5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week

Fabian Debora stood on the railing of a busy I-5 Freeway, just beyond Hollenbeck Park, watching the cars zoom by. Blood spewed down his mouth and onto his water-soaked shirt -- consequences of the manic escape from his mother's home where she had discovered him doing meth.

Haunted by his children's faces and the hurt he had caused, he fled in shame to this spot, where he planned to end his life. Voices shouted in his head, beckoning him to do what he had come to.

"The voice said, 'You worthless piece of shit, kill yourself,' and it's starting to sound scary and its sounding like a demon...and it's getting louder and louder and I just said 'Ahhhh I don't want to hear this!' I ran across the freeway. First lane, second lane, third lane. There was no turning back."

Debora's story nearly ended that day. It is a story laced with sadness and loss, tragedy and regret. But most of all it is a story about an artist's mission to heal himself, help his community, and bring attention to the forgotten area of Los Angeles -- his home neighborhood, Boyle Heights.

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Eva Recinos

GHLA features murals like this one, done by graffiti artist VYAL

Graffiti. Mostly on the streets, sometimes in galleries and always in heated art conversations, this spray-can form of expression remains a huge part of Los Angeles' identity.

Looking to create a supportive, communal space for experienced and budding artists, the recently-established Graffiti House L.A. focuses on offering graffiti artists the opportunity to create indoor pieces, meet other artists and pick up commercial work. Located right off the 101 freeway near Silver Lake, GHLA opened its doors about a month ago thanks to the efforts of a group with very different talents -- currently, 22 members work in creative, marketing and development teams. The unassuming building blends in with the rest of the street and the interior reveals a long hallway dotted with office doors.

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BLU at Tou Scene, Nuart 2010

In Stavanger, Norway, every September for the past 12 years, Nuart, one of the largest street art festivals in the world, transpires. Closeted in the beautiful Fijords, Stavanger is a quaint, oil-rich community with a high standard of living, sometimes making the list as most expensive in all of Europe. However, it is not easy to get to, rains 20 hours out of every day (at least in the fall) and has a zero tolerance law when it comes to tagging and graffiti. A perfect spot to host preeminent street art and its artists?

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Mark Mauer

A work by Sharktoof from 2008

This piece is part of our package on L.A.'s war on street art, including:
*Los Angeles' War on Street Artists
*Fuck New York: Street Art Began Here in L.A.

1. The Boy From Downey: Bumblebee

Street art isn't very big in Downey. "People go to work, go to school, do it all over again," Bumblebee says. "Growing up, you know you're an artist, but you're told not to be one. It's all building up inside of you."

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ART IN THE STREETS, THE GEFFEN CONTEMPORARY AT MOCA, PHOTOS BY GREGORY BOJORQUEZ, COURTESY OF MOCA

L.A.'s Mister Cartoon works on his exhibit at MOCA's landmark street art exhibit in 2011

This piece is part of our package on L.A.'s war on street art, including:
*Los Angeles' War on Street Artists
*The Secrets of L.A. Street Art: Bumblebee, Sharktoof and Linelinedot Discuss Their Work

More stories on street art from L.A. Weekly:
*Our cover story on MOCA's "Art in the Streets" exhibit
*Harry Gamboa on Asco, the Legendary L.A. Performance Group
*Photos of lowriders at a Mister Cartoon signing

Some were amused when Los Angeles filmmaker Jon Reiss' timely, 2007 documentary about the reignition of hipster interest in global street art, Bomb It, identified New York in the 1960s and '70s as the genre's ground zero.

Sure, the likes of Taki 183, Cornbread and, later, Futura 2000 helped pioneer and popularize street art via their subway tags and bulbous spray-can trips. All hail that, indeed.

But Mexican-American youths were glorifying their names and neighborhoods decades before that, in letters just as large and fantastic -- and they were doing it in Los Angeles.
It's no coincidence that L.A. is the art form's new capital. It was the old one, too. Here, Eastside street gangs dating at least to the 1930s, including White Fence and Maravilla, marked their turf with corresponding graffiti.

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Amanda Lewis

Does this bunny look happy? Or like he's hanging from a noose?

First came the birds. Gallery owner and guerrilla street artist David Browne covered the city's telephone wires with whimsical plywood "berds," as he called them, in 2008. Then came the celebrity heads, encased in giant arrows; the bicycling robbers; the foam letters adorned with mustaches; the tiny glow-in-the-dark plastic bears; the sparkling ruby red heels; and the stuffed animals that appear to be wearing pink blindfolds.

Driving around town, you keep getting the feeling something is watching you. You peer out your windshield and see a teddy bear dangling in the air, uncanny, staring down at you. A puff of magic illuminates your daily commute, and then the light turns green.

"Is it raining fairy tales?" you wonder. Or are power lines the latest temporary venue for street artists to share their work, until someone from the city comes with a ladder and ruins all the fun?

"[Power lines] always looked a little sad ... like there's something missing on them," artist Manny Castro says. "It's like finding a shelf with nothing on it. ... It just needed a little razzle dazzle."

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Lina Lecaro

West Coast Artists

California, and more specifically Los Angeles, is one of the most influential hubs for graffiti art in the world. Long before wealthy collectors and mainstream recognition gave "street art" respect and accessibility in the art world (both a good and a bad thing, depending on who you talk to and what documentary you watch), a core group of local painters, drawers and obsessive taggers were creating this provocative work for the sole purpose of expressing themselves.

West Coast Artist's crew - formed in 1985 by O.G. street writers Rival, PJAY and Miner - was one of the most revered crews from the start, due to its fervor to create and share, and the sheer talent of its members. Comprised of omnipresent graffers such as Pyro, Mear One, Kofie, Mr. Cartoon, Vex, Stormie, Remi, Resek, Retna, and more, the WCA artist crew members have grown up and evolved into popular tattooists, clothing designers, graphic and commercial artists known the world over.

Saturday night, the crew unveiled its first group art show at the Mirror Gallery in Chinatown (in the Happy Lion Giftshop space) and the place was packed with artists both new and seasoned, overflowing with fans who spilled out onto the Chinatown courtyard throughout the night. Tellingly, patrons varied from punk rock and skater kids to old gangsta dudes to fashionable art-maven types. Clearly, WCA and its members' rebellious spirit appeals to a wide cross-section of fans, and its zeal hasn't been diluted by age or any amount of success each has achieved individually.

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