15 April 2014
Saber: Grafitti Artist
Los Angeles River Piece
Saber is most famous for the large piece he did on the concrete bank of the Los Angeles River in 1997. The full color piece took 97 gallons of paint and 35 nights over the course of a year. The final work, measuring 250 x 55 feet has been called "the largest graffiti painting ever." The work was viewable from satellite. Highly visible from the East LA Interchange near downtown Los Angeles, it was seen by millions of drivers. Saber can be seen sitting in the letter B, and above the concrete bank trains show the relative length. In 2007, the piece was included in the KCET project Departures: LA River. Remarkable not only for sheer size, Saber's LA River piece remained for 12 years. On September 1, 2009, a sub-contractor of the Army Corps of Engineers , BJD Resourcing, removed the work by painting over it.
American Flag Controversial Piece
Recently in 2010 Saber filmed a video of him painting the American flag and painting on it. People said that he was desecrating the American flag. Saber had many discussions with news networks such as Fox News and MSNBC. As he was quoted on his website: "It was never my intention to insult or disrespect anyone. The decision to paint the flag was to show it as a living, breathing, changing organism, that represents me as an American trying to manage this lifelong disease (Epilepsy) without health care."
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ReplyDeleteHi Jason,
ReplyDeleteGraffiti is one of my favorite things in urban and city life. Sometimes when it is just spray painted names or obscene words I get a little frustrated, but for the most part the art and murals are all very striking. Some of my favorites were done and released for viewing during the 'life is beautiful' festival in vegas last october. here is a link to some of my favorites seen there: http://lifeisbeautifulfestival.com/images/talent/art/dface_mural_thumb.jpg http://lifeisbeautifulfestival.com/images/talent/art/dface_mural_thumb.jpg
http://www.streetartnews.jp/2013/10/dface.html
I love graffiti! I have grown up inspired by the art of it, and have long wished I could do it as well as guys such as Saber. Graffiti involves many things I enjoy: ANARCHY OI OI OI, Painting, colors, the rush that comes with it, hand lettering, illustrations, etc. Graffiti and street art have such a beautiful culture behind it and just feel that people put it aside as just being vandalism and not art.
ReplyDeleteyou already know how i feels about this topic. this guy is nice though, i can see why you like his style so much. it really implements a lot of the things that you try to hit on in your work.
ReplyDelete