MURALISM

Without a doubt, murals have been around as long as people, as a form of valuable testimony of life from the prehistoric time to today. From the cave paintings at Lascaux Grotttoes in southern France to the street art murals of today, people have been leaving signs of their own existence in many places around the world. It is because of the earliest scratchings, carvings, etchings and paintings that we now have priceless knowledge of our history and predecessors, and these murals hold great significance for mankind, as they depicted life activities, everyday scenery and usually religious traditions of the time they were created in, giving us a priceless look of the diversity of our cultures during different periods.

Over the course of time, murals have covered the interiors and exteriors of many public buildings, such as palaces, temples, tombs, museums, libraries, churches and the houses of rich art patrons, spreading onto the streets and architectural elements more recently, all the while keeping their initial meaning and purpose: to paint a picture of society, created from stories, values, dreams, change.

What is a mural? The word mural originates from the Latin word “murus”, meaning “wall”.

Today, we can define murals as any piece of artwork painted or applied directly onto a wall, ceiling or other larger permanent surfaces, flat, concave or convex, to be precise.

A favorite technique of many artists, including masters like Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti, the art of muralism flourished during the 1920s, after the Mexican revolution.

It is during this time that murals got a new dimension as a powerful visual communication tool, meant to promote the opinion of the people and to transmit social and political messages towards unity. Part of Diego Rivera’s mural depicting Mexico’s history

at the National Palace in Mexico City.

Techniques

As murals cover quite large surfaces that could be of different texture, constitution and attributes, their authors have developed several techniques adaptive to their “canvases”.

One of the oldest methods is fresco painting, which sees paint applied on plaster on walls or ceilings. Mixed with water and pigment on a wet plaster, the paint interacts with air, causing a chemical reaction which fixes the pigment particles in the plaster

Other known materials are tempera, oil painting, acrylic painting, painting using brush, roller or airbrush/aerosol.

More recently, artists have introduced digital techniques of mural painting, such as wallscapes – large advertisements, which could be painted on directly or printed out as vinyl and then attached to a surface.

Very often, murals are commissioned by patrons, public institutions or large corporations

Shepard Fairey creating one of his trademark murals at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design

Purpose and Function • make a political or cultural

statement through art.

• Social activism/ propaganda

• Depict communities, nations and cultures

• Often the intent is to instill pride in local people about their culture and heritage

• Aesthetic purposes

América Tropical

During his time in Los Angeles, Siqueiros created América Tropical, an 80x18 foot mural located above Olvera Street, the birthplace of Los Angeles.

Completed in 1932, the mural depicts a Mexican Indian crucified on a cross beneath an American eagle, with two sharpshooters aiming at the eagle from nearby.

The mural’s political message about the exploitation of Mexican workers caused immediate controversy, and it was soon completely whitewashed. América Tropical was restored by the Getty Conservation Institute and opened to the public in October 2012

Stemming from a 1921 manifesto written by Siqueiros, muralism was pitched as an art of social and political engagement. Muralism provides a chance to talk about the intersection of art and politics, which may seem commonplace now, but was widely debated throughout the twentieth century.

What is the goal of art? To what extent is art supposed to be autonomous and separated from everyday life?

Does art that has a function cross the line from art to propaganda, or is there a hazier area between the two that is explored in works like these?

Upper Paleolithic 38,000 BC

Murals of sorts date to Upper Paleolithic times such as the paintings in the Chauvet Cave in Ardèche department of southern France (around 30,000 BC).

Cave paintings are painted drawings on cave walls or ceilings, mainly of prehistoric origin, to some 40,000 years ago (around 38,000 BCE) in both Asia and Europe.

Evidence suggests that they were not merely decorations of living areas since the caves in which they have been found do not have signs of ongoing habitation. They are also often located in areas of caves that are not easily accessible.

Some theories hold that cave paintings may have been a way of communicating with others, while other theories ascribe a religious or ceremonial purpose to them.

The paintings are remarkably similar around the world, with animals being common subjects that give the most impressive images. Humans mainly appear as images of hands, mostly hand stencils made by blowing pigment on a hand held to the wall.

Cueva de las Manos (Spanish for Cave of the Hands) in the Santa Cruz province in Argentina

Ancient Egypt

Many ancient murals have survived in Egyptian tombs (around 3150 BC),[

paint was applied to dried plaster, in what is called "fresco a secco" in Italian

Many ancient Egyptian paintings have survived in tombs, and sometimes temples, due to Egypt's extremely dry climate.

The paintings were often made with the intent of making a pleasant afterlife for the deceased.

The themes included journey through the afterworld or protective deities introducing the deceased to the gods of the underworld (such as Osiris).

Some tomb paintings show activities that the deceased were involved in when they were alive and wished to carry on doing for eternity. Wall painting of Nefertiti

Ancient RomeThe best surviving Ancient Roman murals survive from the city of Pompeii (around 100BC-79AD)

Roman murals consist mostly of mythology, religious scenes, battles and nature scenes.

Murals were used as decoration for the interior of Roman villas.

Murals were also used to communicate basic services to people, such as “fast food” and brothels.

Mogao GrottoesChina

The first caves were dug out in 366 AD as places of Buddhist meditation and worship.

492 caves known as the Magao Grottoes, dug into a mile-long cliff face about 1,200 miles west of Beijing

More than 9 miles long! 10 feet high

caves contain some of the finest examples of Buddhist art spanning a period of 1,000 years.[

The site escaped the persecution of Buddhists ordered by Emperor Wuzong in 845

BonampakMaya

Mexico791 AD

The Temple of the Murals

Over 3 room- 281 human figures are represented

This is the scene of a regal event

In procession, celebration and performing human sacrifice

Gives us insight to performances and processions associated with human sacrifice.

Renaissance

Michelangelo. Sistine Ceiling. Vatican. Italy. 1477-1480

The Mexican mural movement or

Mexican muralism began as a government-funded form of public art—specifically, large-scale wall paintings in civic buildings—in the wake of the Mexican Revolution (1910–20). The Revolution was a massive civil war helmed by a number of factions with charismatic leaders—Francisco Madero, Venustiano Carranza, Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, to name a few—all of whom had very specific political and social agendas. After the Revolution, then, the government took on the very difficult project of transforming a divided Mexico of maderistas, carrancistas, villistas, zapatistas, and so on, into a coherent nation of mexicanos.

To do so, it needed to create an official history of Mexico in which its citizens would find themselves, and it needed a medium that could propagate this to a largely poor, illiterate populace. Enter Mexican muralism

Los Tres Grandes

(The Three Greats)Out of a host of Mexican artists, three emerged as its most devoted, celebrated, and prolific, to the extent that they came to be referred to as los tres grandes (“the three greats”):

José Clemente Orozco (1883–1949)

Diego Rivera (1886–1957)

David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896–1974).

Murals became the most important form of expression, often the subject of controversy and always a symbol of solidarity, freedom and hope

. The Mexican muralism art inspired the creation of many other similar movements around the world, the biggest being the Chicago art movement in the 1960s.

Diego Rivera

Through paint, Rivera and Los Tres Grandes were able to create an identify for Mexico. Create a history. And to serve as visual reminders of the glorification of their culture.

Os Gêmeos (The Twins)

Brazil Subjects range from family portraits to commentary on São Paulo's social and political circumstances, as well as Brazilian folklore. Their graffiti style was influenced by both traditional hip hop style and the Brazilian culture

They’re some of the most renowned artists in the world as far as big, public outdoor murals

Os Gemeos strayed away from the tradition of graffiti-writing and embraced figuration.

But their most famous are really these yellow figures with these red hoods. Symbol for the unrepresentative people.

Ricardo Cavolo Mexico 2014

Frida is surrounded by volcanoes, cactus, birds with three eyes, tropical fruits and flowers, many flowers, coming out from her head as if they were a crown of thorns and flames.

Instead of a double eyebrow, Ricardo has painted a large bird looking at the sky, and the battered spine that kept Frida prostrate on the bed, appears as well on the mural with flames of fire and passion.

With all this, Ricardo Cavolo pays tribute to the art of a country that he has always been attracted to and where his work is understood naturally, because connects wonderfully with Mexican tradition, with its rituals, customs and especially with Frida Kahlo

Jade Uno (Jade Rivera)

Peru 2012Growing up in an impoverished area of Lima, Peru. Jade Uno was motivated to devote his artwork to represent lower-class people who are often looked past especially in regards to economic development.

The street artist painted a reflection of the social and environmental damages inflicted to the inhabitants by the nearby mining pit.

Banksy Banksy is an England-based graffiti artist, political activist and film director of unverified identity.

His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humor with graffiti executed in a distinctive stenciling technique.

His works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world

Shop Until You Drop in Mayfair, London. Banksy has said "We can't do anything to change

the world until capitalism crumbles. In the meantime we should all go shopping to console

ourselves."

Tristan EatonL.A.-based artist Tristan Eaton is a man of many talents. He's not only a muralist and street artist, but he's also a toy designer and illustrator.

His most popular street art are large-scale murals: black and white images with bursts of color and different layers revealing more graphics. They feature images of faces, cultural icons and cartoons

Morley a prolific local street artist who does his best work in wheatpaste with text.

Morley is a Los Angeles-based street artist that specializes in bold, typographic posters which he wheat pastes within the urban landscape.

Blending humor, hope and his unique perspective on life, Morley’s aim is to act as a friendly voice amongst the cacophony of billboarded messages and corporate slogans.

WRDSMTH, a Los Angeles transplant who was born in Cleveland, Ohio, started a project with the goal of putting up one new wheatpaste a day throughout 2014

Just like many others in L.A., he moved out here to pursue his dreams in the industry.

"I write things on walls that I wished people would have said to me when I first moved here," he said.

Fin DAC and Christina Angelina

Fin DAC described his stencil and paint style as being influenced by "dark graphic novels through to the works of Francis Bacon and Aubrey Beardsley," and "all forms of Asian art."

His subjects are often Asian females from urban environments.

While they have black-and-white elements to them, they'll also have a pop of color in the form of a mask around their eyes.

Fin DAC and Christina Angelina on Winston Street and Los Angeles Street in downtown L.A. (

D*Face

His murals have tongue-in-cheek humor and pay homage to Roy Lichtenstein's comic strip-like art

D*Face's street art on a building located at 5427 Santa Monica Blvd. in East Hollywood

EyeOneArizona's anti-immigrant law SB 1070

Retna(Marquis Lewis)

The L.A.-based artist takes typography and lettering to the next level. When he was a kid, he was interested in the Old English lettering he'd see local gangs use. Later, his work would be inspired by Asian calligraphy, hieroglyphics, and Hebrew and Arabic writing.

Retna explained whether his artwork is just visual or has a message: "There’s a verbal element. It could be a poem, it could be just stuff that I’m thinking about, for me it’s just a very meditative process; I’m just having a conversation with myself. Sometimes I allow the music to influence what I’m writing. A lot of them are names my mom would call me when I was growing up, and some are things I’m talking about, friends who have passed away—they’re interactions with what’s going on with people that I just meet, or a conversation I just had. I hear a word or a phrase or a dialogue, and then that becomes my response. They all say something."

El Mac

L.A.-native El Mac (AKA Miles "Mac" MacGregor) has a penchant for painting large-scale portrait murals that are striking because they are both dreamlike and photorealistic.

He's inspired by the Chicano movement and Mexican culture he grew up around. His murals can be seen internationally

Retna + El MacThe tag team (pun intended) of El Mac and Retna have created numerous murals that combine photo-realism with urban iconography and typography.

The duo’s murals in less trafficked areas are exceptional and worth seeking out. Located at the corner of Chesapeake and Jefferson, The Knight features a man of ambiguous heritage in front of both Spanish and English text.

The 2009 mural was created to promote peace and harmony as a response to gangs. The text to the right of the man and on the brim of the hat quotes lyrics from Marvin Gaye’s classic, What’s Going On.

Eduardo Kobra“Welcome To Real

Brazil” Sao Paulo, Brazil.

2014Using his signature classic kaleidoscope technique, the Brazilian artist and his team painted this powerful statement in a time where all eyes are pointed toward Brazil.

He addresses homeless and unemployment issues that are currently on the raise in Brazil

The protests were primarily concerned with the spending of billions of reais of public money on stadiums for the World Cup