BOMB IT

Background of the issue-at-hand:
Jeffrey Deitch, the new L.A. MOCA director, launched a pre-emptive strike on a mural by the Italian street artist Blu that he had commissioned him to paint on the side of the Geffen Contemporary building. Deitch objected to the content of the mural — a series of coffins draped with dollar bills instead of flags — because he felt that it might upset the museum’s immediate neighbors, the Japanese-American community and the veteran community at the L.A. Veterans’ Affairs Hospital. Deitch asked Blu to repaint the wall with another image, the artist refused, and an art controversy was born.  Continue reading →