Local Heroes
Many Bay Area based personages have been immortalized as characters in CRP murals. [nggallery id=1]
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Legendary Musicians
CRP has been inspired by the works of many seminal musical artists. Commemorating then in paint is a good way to acknowledge their amazing contributions. [nggallery id=4]
Healthy Living
One of the most consistent messages in CRP’s artwork is living healthy. Whether it is through exercise such as biking, breaking, or dance; or through growing one’s own food, CRP strives to make the connection between culture and subsistence in all of its work. CRP has created bike murals for the Brown Berets’ Bike Shack in Watsonville and Richmond Spokes. On Diego’s Power Alley Gym, CRP emphasized the connection between Mind, Body and Spirit. On the Peace and Dignity mural…
Blight Reduction in Oakland
Blight in and of itself is bad enough. But longstanding problems surrounding the city’s much-maligned Building Services department—which include a noncompetitive bidding process for city contracts, exorbitant fees charged to property owners, and little to no community oversight or involvement in the process—only make matters worse.
Graffiti, Aerosol Writing and Occupy Oakland
Last Wednesday’s violent disruption by a small contingent of Black Bloc anarchists after Oakland’s successful General Strike ended has brought to the forefront the role of vandalism and property damage in this otherwise-peaceful movement.
Why Murals Beats the Buff
Despite graffiti’s noble origins in rebellion and its evolution into elaborate calligraphy which has set the trends in art and culture for four decades, the mainstream view is that graffiti tagging — the root signatures from this movement — represents an eyesore.
Rethinking the Role of the Aerosol Writing in the Community
A threat to community’s artists’ ability to create public works is looming, one which maybe drowned out in the congratulatory cheers, now that the immediate wrong has been righted.
Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Project
In 2009, CRP was commissioned through Lao Family Community Development to work with 30 employed youth for a six week summer project. The project cleaned-up 150 blocks of trash, painted 5 murals, threw 4 block parties, surveyed the community, and took over 5,000 photos from which they created a 28 page full-color magazine. Three of the large scale murals were created on the Foothill Cultural Corridor.
Fremont / Foothill Cultural Corridor
Since 2003, CRP artists have created over 15 murals along Foothill Boulevard in East Oakland, including the creation of a mural arts districts near Fremont High School which includes murals on the surrounding blocks such as Bond and Bancroft. CRP Director Desi W.O.M.E arranged for the entire block between 45th and 46th Avenues to be painted on multiple occasions, last as part of the Summer Youth Employment program in 2009. Other murals on Foothill include “Flux53” (formerly the Egypt Theater), “Shiva Shakti” (one block away from Flux 53) and the “Mind, Body, Spirit mural for Diego’s Power Alley Gym on Avenal.”
In the summer of 2011, CRP continued its “Healthy Lifestyles” campaign through a large-scale commission in the shared cafeteria serving all five schools in the Fremont Federation. CRP painted images of cultural practitioners, gardeners, athletes and youth with affirmations and encouragement for the students.