L.A. Vs. WAR ~ Downtown

MEAR ONE

Los Angeles has a proud history of political protest art. I remember in my own early days being confronted with Robbie Conal's prune-faced politicians and feeling their bite, even at 6 years old. It's fitting that downtown Los Angeles was ground zero for L.A. Vs. War this past weekend, hosting a battalion of sharp and talented artistic minds who, like most of us in the last five years (and going and going...), are pissed off about the illegal invasion of Iraq and the endless charade that surrounds it. The art fired back cleverly and angrily, with satire, disgust, and occasional beauty. Like a barney, I went in the middle of the day on Friday and didn't get back to check the party out at night. So, while I loved the intense art, I missed most of the fun.

A whole lot of killer people worked hard to make things happen, including John Carr of Yo! What Happened to Peace (who I bonded with shortly over a mutual enjoyment of the Texas/Bay Area band D.R.I.) and Azul with The Iraq Photo Project. Man One took time away from the C.B.S. show at his nearby Crewest Gallery to hang out in the stencil and live painting garden and a long list of different DJs spun through both days and nights. Hopefully, you got a chance to see it for yourself, if not here's a look.

CHAZ BOJORQUEZ

A Universal Peace Altar by Ofelia Esparza, a memorial to lives lost in the war

Kicking shit into overdrive was an outdoor room for Brandy Flower and Mike C.'s Hit & Run Crew to print killer shirts live on the scene, the walls draped with over-sized canvases sporting dripper versions of some of Brandy's Mark of the Beast work. I unfortunately was there too early to see H&R do their thing, but spied a sick Kill Bill O'Reilly design they must have been printing that night on people's gear, while TOKS from Hit and Run got ready to rock the turntables.

Posters above include 2-Cents, Branded, Project Rabbit

Robbie Conal

MEAR

Zan E.L.A. tags.

It was cool to see this painting by Lalo Alcaraz who does La Cucaracha comic strip.

Patrick Hammerlein