Mural Fever

Just before the 1984 Olympics
That I started noticing
Murals painted on
The freeway abutments
In downtown Los Angeles.
It seemed that every time
I visited the concrete jungle,
I would spot another one.
I had no idea who
Was painting them,
Or for that matter, why,
But I was intrigued
By their work.
Neither did I know who
Turned the muralists loose
On the city of LA,
But the muralists
Were obviously
Having a ball.
I began to look forward
To my trips into the city
And the opportunity
To observe their creations.
Some were pretty amateur,
But others were outstanding.
They were certainly
A vast improvement
Over the dull gray monotony
Of blank concrete walls,
Or at least I thought so.
It also occurred to me
That I didn’t see any
Murals like those
Back in Ventura County
Where I was from.
One day I started a project
To find and document
The murals of our County.
For some reason,
Nobody had ever seriously
Studied them before,
And there was no directory
Revealing their locations.
I just had a hunch
That they were there
And I simply wasn’t seeing them.
The first mural I found
Was as an Indian Mural
On an abandoned building
In downtown Oxnard.
It was as intricate and beautiful
As anything in Los Angeles,
And I was instantly hooked
With a bad case of mural fever.
That mural was so complex
That I ended up taking
Roll after roll of pictures
Trying to capture its flavor.
I eventually found
And photographed
Close to 1000 murals.
They were everywhere,
Inside and outside buildings,
On sea walls and fences,
Decorating libraries, schools,
Churches, banks, hospitals,
Even mortuaries.
I discovered that our County
Was absolutely rich in murals,
But it was a wealth
That was being squandered.
Nobody seemed to appreciate
The treasure we had
Or its tourism potential.
In fact, Ventura County
Has a long tradition of mural art.
Unfortunately I also discovered
That documenting the murals
Was not an easy task.
In many cases,
Nobody seemed to know
Who painted them.
The muralists were rarely honored
Or paid more than a pittance
For their work.
Their murals were
Often short lived,
Destroyed by either
Neighborhood vandals
Or the local governments
Bent on cleaning up their image
Without consideration
Of any artistic value
Of the work destroyed.
My solution was to
Take the murals to the people
Through the multitude
Of photographs I had taken.
I created a series
Of mural boards
For selected murals
In the County
That included a picture
Of the whole mural
Combined with blow ups
Mounted three dimensionally
Showing the intricate details
That people might not
Otherwise notice.
The collection traveled
Around the County
And across the State of California,
Being exhibited in museums, libraries
And cultural arts centers.
The entire collection
Was donated to
The Ventura County Library
For public display.
The important thing to note
Is that Ventura is not unusual.
A similar project
Could have been undertaken
In almost any city in the country
With similarly spectacular results.
We don’t tend to see
What is right in front of our noses,
But art, and especially murals
Are a natural expression
Of our humanity,
And should be expected
Anywhere there are people!