What Are You Brewing?
Here’s what’s brewing in Altadena.
Owning and managing a business can be very rewarding. It can also be rather challenging. Some decisions the owner makes are insignificant; shiny metal display cases or warm wood. Others can have a major impact on the business. Dropping a product from the inventory or menu can chase customers off. Customer service is a biggie. Employees can draw people in or push them away.
Advertising is a critical element of running a business. Every sign, ad, mailer and more should align with the businesses’ mission statement. Billboards are expensive and temporary, so some businesses who have exterior wall space will place ads there. A trend that started decades ago was for businesses to turn their wall space over to artists; to beautify their business and/or attract attention. Either way, one would assume the work would support the theme of business.
A coffee shop (which will remain unnamed) in Southern California decided to use its prominent street-facing wall for a mural.
How will you see me?
The exterior coffeeshop wall depicts black figures engaged in knife fighting. The coffeeshop is on a major street, so it gets a lot of eyes. It’s also surrounded by schools; students who are elementary to high school age. Many of them pass this mural daily on their way to and from school. If they see me, a black man standing next to large black figures fighting their brothers with knives, how might these impressionable young minds form an opinion of me? Will it be positive or negative?
It’s well known that too many children are experiencing mental and psychological challenges. I can’t figure why a business owner would place disturbing, violent images before their eyes.
Not all art needs to be seen by all eyes
I’m an artist. I’ve painted murals and other large-scale artwork; one with a very controversial theme. That particular work of art was displayed in a gallery. I would never have shown it publicly for all eyes to see. It needed to be in a setting where context and conversation was available.
About 20 years ago, some children painted a beautiful and whimsical mural on a wall at a library down the street from where the coffeeshop is now located. An angry neighbor contacted authorities to have the mural removed. I wrote letters and lent my voice on behalf of the children and their mural. The mural remains there these many years later thanks to many voices in the community.
It has been stained
I have no idea why the coffeeshop owner(s) chose the knife-wielding artwork to display on his or her business. Have you ever been at the pointy end of a knife or the blunt end of a gun? It’s not fun. If it was for controversy, they succeeded. After all, controversy can draw sells. It can also erase gains.
I regret that the aggressive black-on-black figures of art (yes, it is art), is being displayed in my community in the sight of children. I’m not demanding that it be removed. That’s the owner’s decision. However, I will be happy to see it go. Neither do I wish ill for the business. I will, however, not spend a penny at the coffeeshop while it’s on display…and possibly forever.
So true my brother.
Yes, sad but true.
Makes me sad!
Let’s put positive messages out there for the children to see!
Art tells a story and can be powerful!
Thank you so much!. I’ve been portrayed as the only one bothered by this terrible mural. It is a gut punch every time I pull in and out of my driveway. I don’t want to keep reliving this nightmare!
Ubuntu and much love ❤️
You’re not the only one bothered. I’m hearing from many others. It sounds like you live very close to the coffeeshop. Sorry you have to see it so often. Hopefully it will be gone soon.
I agree. Point the children to the light through art.
Thank you for your insightful response. Many people in the community have contacted the owner to ask that this mural be removed. Maybe the owner has decided that the publicity the business receives because of the mural is more important than its negative impact
You’re welcome. If the owner doesn’t remove the mural, he/she might see that people have removed their money from his business. I certainly have.
Thank you for this.
My pleasure…my duty.
Keni, thank you for your professional artist opinion. Unlike my neighbor, Shê Shé, I have a choice to avoid looking at this very disturbing piece of trash (art) on a daily basis by walking and/or driving in a different direction, she doesn’t. It’s in her face everyday, all day, the only way she would avoid it would be to stay confined inside her home of 47 years, can’t even sit on her front porch in peace, just sad! I couldn’t have been blessed a better neighbor of 25 years.
On a different note, I saw your art display at Vromans last year & purchased your 2022 Wall Calendar, which I adored looking at everyday, is there a 2023 version? Also is your wife’s arts & craft available to purchase?
I feel for Shé Shé. I too live in Altadena. I don’t pass the coffee shop every day, but when I do, I try not to look at the mural.
I have a few 2023 calendars remaining. Go to my contact link and send me your address. My wife donates all her work to charities; no sales.
Thanks for your comments.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I appreciate them. But I don’t agree with the removal of the piece. If we were to remove everything that offends us, we’d probably end up with a long list and a lot of blank spaces. I agree that art can show light as well. Positive images that inspire. Specially young people. But this not always an accurate picture of reality. From a psychological perspective, I understand the trauma that some of us are working through and that certain images will trigger us. So, it’s a big subject. And so is life. But that’s where we can have conversation. Dialogue. Whatever the coffee shop decides to do, I support. But wouldn’t it be a shame if going forward, the next artist would need to have approval of what they create? I’m sure they have guidelines. But will they become severe and constraining for an artist? Some see it as black men in battle. Reminding them of the violent past of the community. Some see this mural as just shadowy figures in battle. The contrast between darkness and light. It would be interesting to know what reaction there would of been if the mural was in negative format. White figures on a black background. Again, thank you for your post. I enjoyed reading and do appreciate and respect your concerns.
Thank you for your comment. Since you’ve read the post, you know that I’m not ‘demanding’ that it be removed. However, I would celebrate its removal. Until that happens, I suggest that everyone who opposes the mural express their disapproval by not shopping at Unincorporated Coffee. I’m sure the business owners will understand, possibly even agree.
P.S. You mentioned ‘light’. I don’t see any, only darkness.
I’m a resident in Altadena, my family have been in Pasadena since 1925, in Altadena since 1968, the art is offensive, insulting to the African American community on the west side here in Altadena, and disrespectful to the public of would be customers.
Thanks for your understanding Carol.
Well spoken. I think I feel similarly. I don’t think the intentions were ill conceived, but sometimes we do and say things that don’t come out as we intend. I think the most frustrating thing of this situation is that the owners responded in defense of their action, when they have the opportunity to take pause and listen, they didn’t. The owners are not people of color, though they are from a group that has been targeted historically, I wonder if they have considered this through the lens of their neighbors.
Thanks. The artist is not a person of color either, though I would have the same opinion of the mural even if the artist was black.
I am a fan of this establishment with frequent buyer points. I am not a fan of this dark display of violence. Though thought provoking in a museum context (Google the same artist’s Denver museum installations), this tone-deaf error in public community placement is not an image I wish to begin my day with. I now turn away from this main street to avoid it and my frequent buyer points will remain dormant for the foreseeable future.
I recall a time when major news outlets routinely showed a black bald (male) silhouette imposed on top of a white hair flowing (female) one when reporting a violent criminal was at large. Even after it became politically incorrect to singularly identify a suspect as merely Black while silent to nearly any other identifying fact or feature, these polarizing danger in black on victim in white continued to float beside the reporter’s heads. Having recently given birth to my own Black male, it sat differently and was triggering, imagining all the inevitable cautionary conversations to come as my husband and I teach our children to maneuver within this society “__ing while Black” (insert virtually any action verb) and survive the presumptions of the day to make it home. I called the offending major single digit news channel. It felt an honor to be the voice of too many too weary of such subliminally negative imagery normalized at tables of white privilege for far too long.
Seeing the image removed within 15 minutes, and to see a neutral replacement image consistently tied to the story for the remaining days the suspect was at large was a small win.
Sadly, this art install somehow both diminishes that small win and magnifies why I was triggered to make that call, and my heart aches for the inevitable cautionary conversations of today’s neighbors and parents and educators, the impression this un-asked for art will subliminally have on young minds of all races at the schools in every direction, including the school attended by that same young Black male whose future I was protecting that day…Will the conversation be cautionary in fear of black male figures amid gentrification? Will the conversation never arise at all amid dismissive assumptions of black on black crime? Will the conversation not be polarizing on race at all but instead a self reflection upon the dark impulses within themselves, as the artist has been quoted to be his intention?
Thank you for your thorough, impassioned comment.
This mural seems to be more a statement from the artist about the violent nature of people in his mind’s eye than it is a simple artistic expression. Unfortunately, there is no light in his artwork that would nudge a young mind in a positive direction.
I’m sure sacrificing your frequent buyer points for standing firm on your moral convictions will benefit you and others in the long run.