The 1984 Olympic outdoor freeway murals in Los Angeles are the battleground between vandalism and great art/civic pride. After several sessions of graffiti removal it appears that the taggers have received a message from someone they fear.

1. Taggers
and
Graffiti
Vandals
Put
On
Notice
by
God
Father?
LA
Art
Show
Booth
for
Fine
Art
Conservation
Lab.
While
sitting
in
my
booth
at
the
LA
Art
Show
I
looked
up
and
noticed
a
man
young
man
in
his
late
20’s
in
a
fashion
challenged
suit
and
tie
staring
at
my
wide
screen
monitor
of
the
many
photos
of
the
processes
of
graffiti
removal
from
the
freeway
mural
Jim
Morphesis
Monument.
He
asked
me
why
I
thought
there
was
no
good
quality
graffiti
art
in
this
art
expo.
We
went
back
and
forth
with
a
few
ideas
and
then
I
asked
him
if
he
was
an
artist.
He
had
been
a
tagger
in
his
younger
years
but
he
was
“way
over
that
now.”
In
fact,
he
was
sorry
and
knows
it
was
wrong.
He’s
doing
some
artwork
with
graffiti
art
style.
He
had
never
heard
the
term
“aerosol
art.”
He
even
dropped
MCLA’s
name
as
an
organization
for
whom
he
was
doing
art.
Then
he
mentioned,
nodding
at
the
monitor,
that
he
knew
all
about
what’s
been
happening
with
this
mural
on
the
freeway.
He
said
he
knew
the
taggers
in
town
and
that
there
are
a
couple
of
“older
guys”
that
are
kind
of
like
the
God
Fathers
of
tagging.
He
said
they
liked
the
clean
up
efforts
we’re
doing
to
make
the
mural
visible
again.
After
the
second
time
the
mural
got
tagged
(after
our
cleaning),
he
said,
“these
older
guys
put
it
out
over
the
Internet,
on
Facebook
and
stuff,
that
if
anyone
hits
this
mural
again,
they
will
hunt
them
down
and
make
them
pay
for
the
disrespect.”
Wohoa!
In
fact,
its
been
8
weeks
now
and
the
mural
is
still
clean…
we’ll
see.
Well,
one
thing
that
has
also
probably
helped
has
been,
in
response
to
this
vandalism,
Caltrans
installed
a
video
surveillance
system
to
monitor
the
mural.
The
system
included
two
cameras,
direct
response
from
LAPD,
monitoring
by
central
office,
storage
of
recording
from
video.
In
addition,
daily
checking
up
on
the
system
by
Caltrans
is
planned
until
the
tagging
stops.

2. The
Mural
Conservancy
of
Los
Angeles
(MCLA)
is
the
organization
that
has
embraced
the
grass
roots
effort
to
rally
the
community
to
supporting
the
removal
of
graffiti
from
public
outdoor
murals
in
Los
Angeles…
and
to
keep
it
off
with
“on
call”
maintenance.
Isabel
Rojas-­‐Williams
is
the
energy
behind
the
Executive
Director
title
that
excels
in
people
skills
and
likability.
Three
short
videos
have
been
made
about
this
project
and
can
be
seen
on
the
blog
for
the
project:
Video
1.
Testing,
Video
2.
Graffiti
Removal,
Video
3.
Restoration.
Go
to
http://www.fineartconservationlab.com/jim-­‐morphesis-­‐monument-­‐by-­‐kent-­‐
twitchell/
There
has
been
a
general
gasp
of
amazement
and
excitement
seeing
the
really
terrific,
world
class,
colorful
mural
of
Jim
Morphesis
Monument
by
Kent
Twitchell
resurface
again,
clean
and
gorgeous.
Jim
Morphesis
Monument
by
Kent
Twitchell
after
graffiti
removal,
retouching,
protective
varnish
Located
at
the
Grand
Ave.
overpass
of
the
101
frwy
near
N.
Temple
and
W.
Hope
St.,
Downtown,
Los
Angeles
Photo
by
Gil
Ortiz
The
consultation
work
of
organizing
logistics
and
the
art
conservation
–
restoration
services
for
this
mural
conservation
project
were
provided
by
Scott
M.
Haskins,
Fine
Art
Conservation
Laboratories,
FACL,
Inc.
805
564
3438
faclartdoc@gmail.com