Book Description
Surface Tens-ion is a photogr-aphic record of murals, signs, and ma,-k-making in LA. Los Angeles-based artist Ken Gonzales-Day spent fifteen months documenting the city that many have called the "Mural Capital of the World." Surface Tensfon: Murals Signs, and Mark-Making was an exhibition organized by the Skirball Cultural Center as a part of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, an initiative o'" the Getty Foundation. The exh"bition included 143 photographs exploring LA's streets and alleys, revealing both the joys and frustrations of the city. These murals celebrate local pride and cultural identity but also tell difficult histories of struggle and violence. The social history of muralism in LA runs deep. Since the days of Mexican muralists Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Jose Clemente Orozco, murals have provided a forum for artists to express their greatest concerns. Artists today continue to use murals as sites of political provocation. They reimagine elements from pop culture, advertise for small businesses, and beautify the streets. Murals also serve as jarring backdrops to the current crisis of mass homelessness and gentrification-induced displacement. They are as complex and diverse as the city itself.
