Tour of the Virgen : Art center offers a look at the interpretations of the Virgen de Guadalupe found in South-Central, Pico-Union and the Eastside. The symbol of the poor and oppressed is widely respected--even by graffiti taggers.

Some have called it “spiritual tagging,” the countless depictions of the Virgen de Guadalupe that appear throughout the city on storefronts, garages, apartment buildings and in front yards.

The Virgen, a mestizo version of the Virgin Mary, is a symbol for the poor and oppressed. It has inspired everything from murals to medallions to makeshift shrines in Latino neighborhoods. And on Saturday, the Social and Public Art Resource Center is sponsoring a tour of Virgen images in South-Central, Pico-Union and the Eastside in hopes of getting people to notice the Virgens in their midst.

“This is not a tourist tour, but more to make people aware of the importance of the image in our culture,” said Gustavo Leclerc, public-art director for the Venice-based art resource center. “For the neighborhood it becomes something that people create as a social landmark. These little stores (with walls featuring murals of the Virgen) are the gathering spots for the neighborhoods.”

Those who believe in her respect not only her because she is the mother of Christ, but also because they believe she will intervene with God to ease their pain and suffering, said the Rev. Avelino Lorenzo, pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Boyle Heights. Believers also ask her to protect loved ones.

“For them, Our Lady is in their minds every single day. This is the devotion of the community,” he said.

In heavily Catholic East Los Angeles, the Virgen’s image can be found in garden shrines and altars in front yards. In Pico-Union, where evangelical Christianity is growing, the Virgen appears in murals but is not the main focus.

Depictions of the Virgen are frequently adorned with flowers, candles and photos of loved ones brought by those who pray for the Virgen’s intervention.

“She commands respect,” said Jose Ramirez, whose three neighborhood stores painted with images of the Virgen in South-Central and East Los Angeles will be part of Saturday’s tour.

But whether she is draped in brilliant airbrushed colors or drawn in simple brown strokes, images of the Virgen for the most part have not been disturbed by graffiti taggers.

Many times, spray-painted insignias come within inches of her face. Even paintings of Jesus fall prey to the graffiti, but rarely is the Virgen damaged, Leclerc said.

Kim Ilsun, who owns a convenience store at 22nd and San Pedro streets, does not hesitate to say he has kept the image of the Virgen because he hopes to attract more customers in his predominantly Latino neighborhood.

“It’s for my business,” he said. “I asked (the artist) to do it because the people, the customers, are Mexican. It’s the Lady of Guadalupe, right?”

Ramirez has had the image of the Virgen on his stores for years, but recently, a neighbor, Carlos Anacleto Gonzales, refurbished the mural, adding more color and scenery and making the Virgen more vivid.

There is a difference between the image of the Virgen in professional artists’ works and these neighborhood images, most of which are produced by gang members or next-door neighbors, Leclerc said.

These murals expose the artists’ influences, such as the cholo style used in tattoos, he said. Some of the artists use a graffiti-like style in their murals that they may have developed while tagging.

Gonzales, 23, said he learned to draw in art classes at the California Youth Authority facility in Ontario, where he spent two years for violating parole.

His work on the Ramirez markets has led to other work, such as a mural of the Virgen he is now painting on the wall of a beauty salon. He has also painted murals of underwater life for a seafood restaurant and another of a waitress for his mother’s restaurant, but the Virgen provides a spiritual and emotional connection to his work that the other paintings do not, he said.

“When you’re doing the Virgen Mary, somehow it has the feel, I don’t know how to explain it, you’ve just got your heart into it and nothing bothers you,” he said. “That’s the way I feel.”

Whether she is used as a cultural or religious icon, the Virgen has become part of what Leclerc refers to as Los Angeles’ second city--art that people must make a conscious effort to notice.

“I’m amazed at how people transform their existing structures into cultural displays,” he said. “For me, this is two cities. These are the things that people drive by all the time and never notice, like the (vendor) trucks that have the murals. It’s everywhere. When I made a conscious effort to look for those things, I was amazed at the whole cultural city here.”