KOREATOWN : Artist to Replace Mural of Dancer

For eight years, the figure of a masked dancer performing a traditional ttal chum (mask dance) has adorned the southern wall of the Korean Community Center at 981 S. Western Ave. Painted for the 1984 Summer Olympics, the mural has been a vivid beacon in the city’s growing Korean-American community.

This month, artist Dong In Park and his crew began removing the fading mural to replace it with a larger one. The painting, 64 feet high and 73 feet long, will cover the southern wall of the community center with a depiction of musicians and dancers performing traditional farmers’ music and folk dances known as nong ak .

Park, who painted the original as well as several other murals in Los Angeles and Korea, said the new work should be completed in about seven weeks.

“The Korean-American community has been feeling kind of depressed because of the riots and the recession,” said Ji Soo Kim, chairman of the Southern California League of Koreans. “The new mural represents a fresh beginning, and we hope it will lift the spirits of all people in Los Angeles.”

Kim said AT & T will underwrite the $50,000 cost of creating the mural and maintaining it for five years.