Street Art vs. Illegal Billboards

There's a war going on in Los Angeles between artists and corporations over what populates the city's outdoor surfaces.  An article in The Atlantic, titled "The Convoluted Path to Ending Los Angeles's Mural Ban," by Nate Berg gives some details on the issue.  Again corporations have demanded citizens' rights in the form of freedom of speech.  (For a somewhat biased, but accurate, description of corporate personhood, take a look at Josh Clark's article "Why do corporations have the same rights as you?")  As stated by author Berg --

In the late 1990s, the city was sued by the outdoor advertising industry, which argued that the city was unconstitutionally privileging one type of protected speech – murals – over another – advertising. As a result, the city enacted a ban on signage – including murals – in 2002. The rules were then adjusted, creating "sign districts" where signs and murals and billboards would be allowed. But what tended to happen in these districts is that large developments included space for signs, and that space tended to be allocated to paying advertisers rather than non-paying artists. As a result, large ads and billboards started popping up all over these areas, prompting outrage from many residents.

Another result was a crack-down on street artists. There's a movement afoot to save the murals, as you can see at the SPARC Save LA Murals site and in the videos below.  SPARC (Social and Public Art Resource Center) is "is a non-profit community arts center based in Venice, California."

Below is a three-part series by Voice of Art that was published on YouTube that gives the artists' viewpoints.  i am OTHER is "is a new channel and cultural movement dedicated to Thinkers, Innovators and Outcasts."

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As street artist Lydia Emily explains in Part 2, political art can be a difficult experience.

-- Marge