Works From Love My Neighbor Public Art Progect On Vew At Natural History Museum of LA County

My three works from  

LOVE MY NEIGHBOR Public Art Project  

are in the  

California Art Club 

107th Gold Medal Exhibition   

 
at 

 

The Natural History Museum

of Los Angeles County 

 

   

June 10 - July 1, 2018

"El Rey Trabajador. Love My Neighbor public at project, The City of Carson"

72" x 48" oil on canvas

Executed with grants from The City of Carson, Wells Fargo Bank and Rand Resources LLC.

 

 

The focus of my ongoing public art project "Love My Neighbor" in the City of Carson for the last two years is the notorious, chronically underserved "Scottsdale" neighborhood.  Following my concept that special neighbors exist in every condition, I was fortunate to find a remarkable and inspiring character in Cirilo Campos, a beloved 75 year old "Scottsdale" gardener.

Cirilo's noble values, the dignity and pride of his hard work stand in stark contrast to a morally bankrupt "greed is good" creed that is shoved at us from every corner and which has torn the very fabric of our society.

"Mrs. O'Neal. Love My Neighbor public at project, The City of Carson"

29" X 22" Sepia on Paper

Executed with the grants from The City of Carson and Rand Resources LLC.

 

There is a lot of adversity to overcome in today's world. For me, the answer to many difficult questions that we are presented with daily is in the simple principle "Love My Neighbor". Loving one's neighbor is the foundational building block in the moral fiber of our society. I make my case with my ongoing "My Neighbors Series", a collection of portrayals of the people around me in our City of Carson one of the statistically most diverse in the nation.

 

As one of Carson's founders, Mary Anne O'Neal, is a true icon of the Carson community.  A great-granddaughter of slaves who grew up on a farm in Arkansas, this 91-year-young woman leads her life by example. In a world of "it's all about me," she believes in today's "unfashionable" notions such as serving others before oneself and helping a neighbor in need.
 

 

"Mr. Lipsey. Love My Neighbor public at project, The City of Carson"

29" X 22" Sepia on Paper

Executed with the grants from The City of Carson, Bank of America and Rand Resources LLC.

Mr. Lipsey is one of the longest continuous residents of "Scottsdale" Carson.  Some old timers call him "The Seed and The Root".  He is a big man of not many words. 

 

Mr. Lipsey is from Mississippi.  He is 77.  When he was just 6 years old his Dad went to get food for him on a pouring rain, got drenched and died of double pneumonia.  As Mr. Lipsey puts it in 1947 Mississippi "antibiotics were too good for blacks".  I asked him if he remembers segregation.  He sure does.  The bathrooms at bus stops.  The movie theaters.  When him and his friends went to the movies, they'd sit in their section on a balcony.  Some white kids would go in a section above them and urinate on them.  And spit.  And throw trash.  He remembers Emmett Till's body pulled out of Tallahatchie River.

 

Remarkable in his observations, he told me at the middle of last session as I begun to develop the drawing: "It's the first time I am seeing real me".

For the first time in its 50 year history The City of Carson was acknowledged at the national level cultural institution.