MURAL ON WORKMAN: Interesting Facts * One of the few murals in existence that actually projected in front of itself * Remains a strange presence on the street * Rare example of ahistorical muralism * Also a rare example of an effective * Actively rejects historicity of muralist traditions in exchange for metaphysical powers * Unconcerned with refashioning imperialist propaganda at the service of "the people" * More like Che image hanging from the freeway bridge or radiation created by sweltering heat of 272 people at August 29th Chicano Moratorium anniversary than Rivera, Siquieros (ie. ontological power vs. historical image-maker) * Actually sat about half an inch in front of the wall it was painted on * Bona-fide rupture in the street * Crystallized no ideology--instead stood as a crystallization of no-nationalistic, no-paternal, no-history While all other murals of the time were composed as linear histories of people's historical struggles, complete with the masses separated from the heroes and complex experience replaced with singular iconography, Mural on Workman was arranged frontally and flatly. Linearity was replaced with confrontational paradox--ever present origami double vision of hallucinatory street-barrio dreams, it kept unfolding. The crystal brilliance manifesto I found under the flaking paint in 2004. Strangely, with all the debate about preserving, restoring and conserving murals in Los Angeles, all have overlooked the invincibility of the small Workman Mural. Indestructible murals like this one only rage louder and more relevantly when added to--when written over--because "over" is how they exist themselves. They are "over over" images. They fall over themselves continuously, and when somebody writes over them, they fall into that writing and the mess churns into itself and opens like smoke resolving back into image. It's a very beautiful phenomenon to observe. The significance of this Workman mural furthermore lies in its uniqueness as the first no-mural created by smoke. ASCO had done something similar it seems--broken the mural itself across space and weather, but to see a mural appear out of smoke continuously reconstituting itself was very unusual. I took a few photos of the Workman Mural shortly before the building it was painted on was painted itself. Plans to re-reconstitute it are underway it seems, though details are still enshrouded in illegality and compromise and I'm constantly forgetting the plans.
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