Levi Ponce mural

Once upon a time in Los Angeles, murals were being painted on the sides of buildings and freeway walls as quickly as they were being painted over by annoyed business owners. The art was considered a nuisance, and was eventually outlawed by the Los Angeles City Council. Now, a movement to allow them to be legal again is being led by Levi Ponce ’09 (Art Two Dimensional).

Ponce has been setting the city’s art scene, and the mainstream media, afire with new works he calls “Drive By Murals.” These pieces, all in the Valley, feature cultural touchstones—from the Mona Lisa to singer Richie Valens to actor Danny Trejo—painted in offbeat ways (the Mona Lisa, for example, wears a sombrero). The attention the murals have garnered has attracted CNN and MSNBC, but also the Los Angeles City Council—in a good way.

The council recognized Ponce’s art and has even started looking into removing the stigma murals have received since being banned in the city. The City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee advanced a mural ordinance to the full council that would do away with the ban.

Councilman Jose Huizar, who chairs the PLUM Committee, said the final ordinance would help restore Los Angeles’ reputation as the “mural capital of the world.”

For more: Murals Could be Legal Again in Los Angeles (San Fernando Sun)

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