#Crazy la paint 2 hours archive#

observes his environment, creating compositions with a sign painter's sensibility.

#Crazy la paint 2 hours archive#

'If you exclude that, you're doing a disservice to the city's history.' His work seeks to archive the physicality prone to change, like an exterior that cultivates a specific style and flavor or walls, sometimes weathered from the sun, altered and naturally reworked. 'There's so much rich culture within these neighborhoods,' he said. Most of Gonzalez Jr.'s subjects are from working-class communities - which emanates from his connection to the people and interactions within these areas. How Boyle Heights is Fighting the Forces of Change 'I did everything on my own: mix paint, pick up the scaffold, find the wall, get the U-Haul and then paint. 'I was putting a lot of effort into different companies and people, and I did so much that I never thought I could do,' he said. He visited museums in every state, exploring the systems and ideas in contemporary art while also learning the business side of sign painting. He also worked throughout the U.S., gleaning information from his travels. He began as an apprentice, then transitioned to an assistant, gaining confidence in portraiture. painting large advertisements and I started painting billboards, and then eventually painted walls,' he said. 'I had an opportunity to work for a company in L.A. decided to pursue art as a career but didn't know where to start.

After high school, he attended Los Angeles Trade Tech College for sign graphics and moved to San Francisco after graduation. experimented with other creative outlets, resisting anything that didn't have to do with art. | Courtesy of Alfonso Gonzalez Jr.Īs a youth, Gonzalez Jr. He was also introduced to the art of lowrider culture by his father's friends and Mexican muralism by Los Four and the East Los Streetscapers.Īlfonso Gonzalez Jr. His cousin, a tagger, gave him access to graffiti's clandestine world. 'The crazy ledges and bridges were always mind-blowing,' he shared, and the scale of much of the work left an impression. He was moved by the various genres of graffiti culture, including the mechanics and choreography that went into creating murals or throw-ups (a reference to a graffiti writer's name on a wall). brings the disparate aspects of his Avocado Heights upbringing, non-institutional artistic expression and the Chicano mural movement into his art.

'I started noticing gang graffiti and how it separates neighborhoods - and landmarks too.' 'All of this informs what I am doing now,' he said.

This division mapped stories and communication, crossing barriers and geographies that sparked a deeper look at the city's disparities and cultural aesthetics. He recognized how invisible territories and boundaries were marked by gang graffiti. became fascinated with the range of graffiti that claimed walls on highways. It was during these experiences that Gonzalez Jr.

Man One With One Man's Goal: Make Graffiti Legit 'I am fascinated by people's decisions and how they influence surfaces,' said Gonzalez Jr. The painting is rendered with such realism it could be mistaken for a photograph, were it not mural-sized. Red long-stemmed roses, a caricature of Minnie Mouse and hands displaying nail art complement sharp-angled graffiti tags. On it, he sets promotional fliers of local businesses and concerts against exposed brick and multi-colored walls. The words 'El Norteño' are painted next to tags, aligning multilayered identities.Ī large-scale painting, 'Magic Beauty,' is embossed with bold, three-dimensional text that reads 'Beauty Salon.' The hand-lettering replaces the static digital neon signs that invade commercial outlets. home and Boyle Heights studio, capturing an assemblage of objects that make up a community: an Aztec calendar set on a liquor store or the embroidery of a charro belt with roosters engraved as a frame. In his first solo exhibition, 'There Was There' held this year at Matthew Brown Gallery, Gonzalez Jr.'s work focused on the neighborhoods between his East L.A.