Revok1

”I own the sky!” exclaimed L.A. graf king Saber as his latest project started to unfold at noon today — not on an elusive downtown wall, but in the skies above City Hall. Saber’s latest artwork is a sky written protest against the public mural moratorium in place per city hall since 2007.
Long story short, the moratorium’s not official. As an artist, you just won’t be issued a permit. Even with permission from a property owner, one can be arrested and the owner fined and also jailed.

In the legal protest, executed by six hired skywriting jets and lasting about 45 minutes, the first two passes were call-outs to other LA artists and crews — Revok, Tempt, MSK, LTS, Risky, Ayer and Dream were some. Then down to business: “Art is not a crime. End mural moratorium: twitter at end mural moratorium”

-FULL STORY HERE.

Statement from the Artist:

9.19.2011

End Mural Moratorium. Art Is Not A Crime…

The reason I hired five jet planes to sky write over City Hall and downtown Los Angeles is to bring awareness to how ridiculous a moratorium on public art is.

The city states that all public murals are signage, effectively banning art from the walls of Los Angeles. And it is removed at the taxpayers’ expense. Money is given to private graffiti removal companies, who have broken onto private property to paint murals beige. The owners of small businesses where murals have been painted have been harassed and threatened with fines if they do not remove the artwork. Police officers raid homes and places of work, intimidating artists and building owners. During this time of economic crisis, “mural signs” are an easy target for the city to extract money. This moratorium is a clear violation of the first amendment right to free speech and enforcement for these unreasonable laws is a complete waste of taxpayer funds.

To put things in perspective I recently visited the beautiful set of murals inside the Terminal Annex Building on Alameda. This mural was painted in 1941-44 and was funded by the “Works Progress Administration” (WPA). Murals are just a part of the legacy of a national program that put the country to work during the Great Depression.

Fast-forward to the Great Recession, taxpayer money is now used to obliterate all traces of the artwork my generation have created. I believe this is city-funded censorship pushed by lawmakers with personal vendettas. Potential jail time is more probable for us than the opportunity of creating an artistic legacy for the next generation. In a city that used to proudly call itself the “Mural Capitol Of The World,” the officials who enforce this ban should be ashamed to call themselves “Angelinos.”

Art Is Not A Crime… End Mural Moratorium.

- SABER

Tell Mayor Villagaigosa and the L.A. City Attorney’s office to end the mural moratorium now:

Sign the petition to end LA’s war on public art HERE