Street artists hold laser graffitti protest over commisioned-then-censored public mural

A crew of street and graffiti artists, together with a handful of war veterans, gathered Monday night in the dark, empty parking lot of MOCA's Geffen Contemporary in Little Tokyo to stage a guerrilla protest performance against the museum's director, Jeffrey Deitch.

The MOCA wall has been blank since Deitch had Italian street artist Blu's antiwar mural whitewashed from it in early December. Deitch had commissioned Blu to paint the mural; but after it was completed, Deitch became concerned that its provocative imagery of coffins draped in dollar bills would be offensive to some in the neighborhood...

"All of us political poster artists have been a little outraged," said artist Karen Fiorito. "It shows how corporations and private institutions can control the dialogue in the public forum."

- Los Angeles Times

Downtown LA BLU MOCA Whitewash Protest // 01.03.2011 from jesse trott on Vimeo.