L.A. Freewalls Project: Spreading the Global Art Influence of Los Angeles

LA FREEWALLS from Jason Wawro on Vimeo.

The current condition of Los Angeles muralism gets a street art angle in this Jason Wawro-helmed video that was released this week. With slow pans, Daniel Lahoda, curator of L.A. Freewall Project, is smoothly stalked as he talks. The "community initiative," as Lahoda refers to his wheat-pasting of the city, is mentioned as an example of how Los Angeles is still a global art influence.

Opening with time-lapsed photography of large-scale street art set against a backdrop of the city, the short film flicks back and forth from Lahoda sitting in his just-opened LALA Gallery in the Arts District, to shots of unauthorized street art in situ.

Of course, there is lamenting about the state of Los Angeles murals and the now too common surrender to the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program capturing the "mural capital of the world" flag for its host city. But there is a bubble of optimism in Lahoda's prediction of what direction the street art version of Los Angeles public art will evolve to.

The 3:08 minute film was pre-screened at Uncommon Ground III, an Arts District based community planning workshop held this past Saturday at SCI-Arc. Even though it may serve as a marketing tool for Lahoda's upcoming "LA Freewalls Inside," a group show of current studio work by LA Freewalls Mural Project participants, Saturday's audience of developers, educators, and artists did a slow panning nod of approval to the style and message of the film.