Social and Public Art Resource Center
Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Chicano Studies and World Arts and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles; founder and Artistic Director of SPARC, The Social and Public Art Resource CenterArt, Politics and the History of Downtown Los Angeles America Tropical is emerging again on the second-floor wall of the Old Italian Hall on Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles. It was painted by the Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros in 1932, sponsored by an Olvera Street booster named Christine Sterling. But she and the rest of the city's elite were so shocked by the picture that they whitewashed it section by section until it disappeared. Now the Getty Conservation Institution has almost completed the restoration . KCRW's Saul Gonzalez has the story. (Voices of Leslie Rainer, Getty Conservation Institute; Carmen Muñoz, Olvera Street merchant; and Chris Espinosa, General Manager of El Pueblo.)
A Tangle Of Art and Bureaucracy over LA’s Murals Last December, an 18-by-45 foot mural appeared on a wall near the corner of Cesar Chavez Boulevard and Breed Street in the heart of Boyle Heights. But in January, the City’s Department of Building and Safety ordered the building owner to paint it over or face a possible fine and even some time in jail. He did what he was told without telling the artists.
Venezuela spirals into economic and political chaos Venezuela, a country whose potential for prosperity is unmatched, finds itself on the verge of civil war. What sustains the repressive government? With time running out, guest host León Krauze looks at what the international community can do to pull the country from the edge of collapse.
Is the threat from Russia missing from the Russia meddling probe? There's much being made about the Trump administration's possible ties with Russia. But the bottom line is Russia's effort to influence American democracy. Do the President and his aides care enough to take action before voters go back to the polls?