Author: Tanja Barnes

Something to do in Los Angeles This Weekend: Walking Tour of Thai Town Street Art Graffiti Murals

Tanja Barnes


View Walking Tour of Thai Town Graffiti Street Art Murals in a larger map

I’m taking off for the Memorial Day weekend, leaving behind my house-sitting stint and the world’s sweetest kitty so I’ve put together a map of a walking tour (see above) of the street art murals in the Thai Town area that I’ve been blogging about these past few days.

Some of the works from graffiti artists you’ll see on this tour: RETNA, Miles “Mac” MacGregor, LA Mural Front, Dabs Myla, Desire Obtain Cherish Street Team and SEVER(MSK AWR T7L LOSS PREVENTION) and OZER(LTS T7L).

Click on the map pin to view an image to help you identify the piece. You can even click on the image in the popup to view more information or even perhaps an interactive panorama.

There’s way more to see in the area. But if you head west towards Hollywood and Highland, you’ll find this piece from Banksy Mr. Brainwash (left).

If you know of a location, please help me stick a pin in this collaborative map.  Note: I reserve the right to edit the map pins if the locations don’t relate to street and graffiti art.

It won’t take you more than 30 minutes to see them all but you may want to grab a cup of coffee or smoothie at the nearby Casablanca Coffee Lounge in which case add some more time to your tour.

Have a great weekend!

 Click through below for 360 interactive images:
“Venus” Mural by Desire Obtain Cherish Street Team

On the opposite wall is a piece by the LA Mural Front.
Mural by Dabs Myla

Super Smooth by Dabs Myla

La Reina de Thai Town

A collaborative mural by Retna & Miles “Mac” MacGregor
Violence Solves Nothing by the Seventh Letter

By SEVER (MSK AWR T7L LOSS PREVENTION) and OZER(LTS T7L)
Kannon / Kuan Yin

A collaborative mural by Retna & Miles “Mac” MacGregor

“La Reina de Thai Town” and “Kannon / Kuan Yin” – Two Murals by RETNA and Mac

Tanja Barnes

“Kannon / Kuan Yin” can be found at the intersection of Hollywood and Western across the street from the Metro station

Success happens overnight for some people but for graffiti artist turned gallery artist, RETNA’s breakout success is a long time in the making. Last week, RETNA unveiled a unique work of art on the tail of one of VistaJet’s Global Express XRS aircraft during EBACE 2011 in Geneva. This week RETNA was featured in the new documentary “OUTSIDE IN: The Story of Art in the Streets” that premiered yesterday at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.

However, RETNA’s been collaborating with fellow street artist Miles “Mac” MacGregor for several years now and many of the murals they’ve produced together have become local landmarks, two of which happen to be within very close proximity to the place where I’m house-sitting.

Featured here “Kannon / Kuan Yin” (above) and “La Reina de Thai Town” (below) were created in 2007 and 2010 respectively. I’ll be posting a map of the street art of Thai Town along with some additional fantastic murals soon.

“La Reina de Thai Town” is situated just south of Hollywood Boulevard on Wilton

Desire Obtain Cherish versus Stella Artois on Hollywood Boulevard

Tanja Barnes

I’m house-sitting in Thai Town, an area on Hollywood Boulevard roughly between Wilton and Normandie just off the 101 freeway.  In addition to featuring some of the best Thai restaurants in Hollywood, the hood  also plays host to a dream team lineup of some of the city’s finest street artists including the LA Mural Front, Miles “Mac” MacGregor, RETNA and most recently the street team of Desire Obtain Cherish.

When not overtaking the billboard of a Stella Artois ad over Torung Restaurant (right, May 2011), Desire Obtain Cherish have also blessed the alley way near Mel Pierce Camera with a fleeting ephemeral vision they call “Venus” that I captured in 360° (above).

Join me over the next few days as I’ll be sharing with you some more works in this fascinating neighborhood street gallery.

It’s Full of Stars – The Central Rotunda at the Griffith Observatory

Tanja Barnes
Vault of the rotunda at the Griffith Observatory. Click to embiggen.

The Central Rotunda at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles has the distinction of being one of the top 10 ceilings in the world. It was designed by muralist and Hollywood art director Hugo Ballin who also worked as a sketch artist on MGM’s 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz”.

Be sure to click on the image above to see all the gorgeous details that are featured in this mural including the celestial heavenly bodies of classic Greek mythological heroes such as Atlas, Mercury, Venus, the four winds, the planets as gods, and the twelve constellations of the zodiac. The line that you see coming out of the hole at the apex is the wire from which Foucault’s Pendulum is suspended.

I had an opportunity to capture this image of the rotunda on a recent hike to the observatory with the awesome Downtown Greather Los Angeles Hiking group from Meetup.com.  This is a really great group of fun, gregarious people. Bob, the leader of the group, describes it as “We’re not a “hard core” hiking group. We believe that having fun and socializing while hiking is just as important as getting some good exercise, so don’t expect any sprints to the destination or death marches here. And dogs are always welcome (except in prohibited areas) on our hikes.”

Salvation Mountain: Leonard Knight’s Interactive Vision in the Desert

Tanja Barnes

View on Google Maps Street View

 

Leonard Knight, 79, has been building “Salvation Mountain” an on-going art installation near Slab City in the Salton Sea, California, for the past 27 years. Its sole purpose is to convey the simple message “God is love.”

Because of Knight’s dedication, it seemed fitting to see Salvation Mountain on Easter.  So last Sunday along with my sister we set out for a visit, and while we were there, we had an opportunity to meet the artist.  Knight is a sweet, kind soul as evidenced in the video clip below. He has only recently returned to the mountain after being hospitalized for heart complications about six weeks ago. Despite his weakened condition, the artist remains cheerful and vibrant sharing his message and giving gifts of postcards, stickers and a DVD featuring a documentary about his work to all who come to visit.

The mountain was fabricated from an adobe mixture that Knight mixes himself using dirt from the desert floor and straw.  The structure is then lovingly lavished with color using thousands of gallons of paint.

(Above) Artist Leonard Knight was featured in the in the 2009 film Into The Wild directed by Sean Penn who happened to be visiting the same day I was accompanied by his gal pal Scarlett Johansson.
 

Whether it’s Easter Sunday or not, anytime is a great time to visit Salvation Mountain but more so now while Knight is still alive and kickin’.  According to his friend Kevin Eubanks, due to his health Knight will no longer be sleeping in his truck near the mountain at night but instead staying at a house nearby in Niland with visits to the site during the day.  You can keep up with the latest developments at Salvation Mountain’s Facebook page.

This is a test. This is only a test!

Tanja Barnes
Amphitheater in Central Park, Playa Vista.

Hey there!

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed a recent image I took on my iPhone and  posted to Twitpic last week from the Amphitheater in Central Park in Playa Del Rey. The location that the amphitheater sits is a 7.9 acre park designed by Michael Maltzan in collaboration with the Office of James Burnett.

Now honestly, there’s no real reason for me to share this photo with you now except that I’ve been having some hiccups with this blog and the ability to posts images so I’m simply testing the feed. But I thought I’d take a moment to share with you the pretty picture.

If you experience any duplicate posts or other issues of functionality with this blog or my website please let me know. I’m working on making this a s-m-o-o-t-h ride.

About This Blog – Updated February 2011

Tanja Barnes

Hello, this is Tanja.  I’m in the midst of redesigning my website which will be a work in progress for the next month or so.  In so doing, I thought I’d take a moment to update the blog as well.

I launched my first blog back in 2004 with the intention to replace my on-line quarterly newsletters that were posted to my website since 1999. If you want to read past articles from this now defunct newsletter they are now archived at my old website here. It was designed by the great folks at Kapow. At the time I posted content about massage therapy, alternative healing methods and some healthy recipes. Occasionally I wrote about things as if my blog were a public diary — thankfully nothing I’d be embarrassed to say openly.

Back then, I didn’t really know what I was doing. I think most people new to the blogosphere don’t know what they’re doing either so I don’t feel too bad.

I think this whole Web 2.0 thing is just one big experiment really and so we all fumble about as we find our voice and create our digital identity here on the Web.

Unfortunately, my ISP ate my blog when I switched providers and then *poof*! It was gone!

Then in 2005 I heard on NPR that the Oxford University Press had selected ‘podcast’ as the Word of the Year.

When I heard the that, I vowed I would give up my love of all things tech because I felt like I simply couldn’t keep up! I mean… you know… it’s an expensive habit buying all those new shiny gadgets that quickly become obsolete. And like a great athlete you have to constantly be training to keep up.

Not too long after I quit a friend dared me to make a podcast and you know what? I couldn’t resist!

At first it was really, really, REALLY hard. I’m a massage therapist by profession so I’m completely autodidactic in learning all there is about interviewing subjects, capturing audio/video, editing, mixing, coding and publishing to the Web. There was so much to learn not mention that things were constantly changing as the medium continues to develop and evolve.

But I kept it up and fell in love with it along the way. So much for giving up technology as an expensive habit, eh?  Now I can proudly assert I am one of earliest pioneers of podcasting! To this day I produce a community-based arts and culture podcast that’s tremendously fulfilling. But still… there’s so much more to learn.

So through this current iteration of my blog I aspire to share with you things that I feel are pretty nifty using podcasting tools including audio and video recordings. Occasionally I may even post a wordy, text heavy posts much like this one as well.

I’m happy to share with you my knowledge and have posted several video tutorials on how to do things on a Mac or in social media. If you’re stuck with a problem and it’s something I can assist with you with, feel free to contact me and I’ll try to help.

* The views expressed on this blog do not reflect those of any employer, past, present or future.

Queen Califia’s Magical Circle

Tanja Barnes


This is my latest 360° panoramic image from Queen Califia’s Magical Circle, a mosaic sculpture garden by Niki de Saint Phalle located in Escondido, CA. The garden consists of nine large-scale installations including a circular “snake” wall with a labyrinthine entrance into the confines of the circle.

Eight large totems of mythical monsters and deities surround the main piece of Queen Califia standing upon the Eagle Throne. There used to be a gold-egg shaped fountain underneath the eagle that referred to Queen Califia’s magical reign over oceans and also symbolized the cycle of birth, death, and transformation.  It is faced with handmade gold leaf sandwich glass that was controlled by a solar pump.

Upon my latest visit the Egg Fountain had been removed, due probably to abuse since this beloved park is overrun with children and adults climbing and scaling these fragile mosaic pieces. On the one hand, you can’t blame folks for stomping all over the installations as they appear to invite interaction with their colorful textures and shapes. However, I’m afraid that should this rough interaction continue with the pieces not maintained they too will suffer removal like the Egg Fountain.

The Niki Endowment Fund was established to enable the city of Escondido’s school children an opportunity to visit the garden. It pays for transportation costs of docent lead classes to visit the site. For more information about the fund and how to contribute call 760-839-4331.

Namaste, Rik Sharaj

Tanja Barnes

I’m utterly shocked and deeply saddened to hear yet another friend has passed on into the light this year. While Rik Sharaj may have gone on to become one with Shiva his music will forever live in my heart.

Namaste, dear Rik. At every full moon I will remember you with joy and I will listen for your song amongst the stars. You have been such a sweet blessing to me and everyone in the community. Safe journey.