Hellish Stretch of Freeway Offers Vision of Heaven

Technically, the canvas is known as Trapezoidal Retaining Wall 07-LA-10R7.0. But artist Russell Carlton calls his work-in-progress “Unto Ye Heavenly Garden of Knowledge.”

If you drive one of the 262,000 cars that traverse the Santa Monica Freeway between National and Overland each day, you may have noticed it. You may even be one of the drivers whose attention has wandered, causing one of those near-misses that our freeways are famous for.

A young man rolling brilliant blue paint onto a retaining wall might be expected to cause some spectator slowing. This is, after all, the freeway--where even an empty plastic bag fluttering at the roadside can cause a traffic jam. Caltrans required Carlton to install a six-foot anti-gawking wall on the north side of Interstate 10 while the mural is being painted. But the piece is more than twice that high and Carlton, who is tanned, tattooed and fit, works shirtless.

“We definitely hear brakes screeching,” said the 30-year-old artist, squinting next to the wall on a hot, bright afternoon last week. “Sometimes the traffic slows down for no reason, especially when we’re on the scaffolding.”

So far, though, no accidents.

Good thing, since the mural--one of about 45 art projects on the Los Angeles freeway system--is a fund-raiser for medical research.

You’d hate to sacrifice a commuter, even for a higher purpose such as this.

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Carlton and various minimally paid assistants and volunteers, including his mother, Karen, and partner, Dave Hubbard, will be at the site all summer. The project is intricate--a 195-by-13-foot, 60-color representation of art, science and hope, inspired, in part, by medieval illuminated manuscripts.

Guardian angels will overlook symbols of the natural and civilized worlds--orchids, butterflies, microscopes and books; panels will be bracketed by oversized versions of the looped red ribbons symbolizing the fight against AIDS.

The $50,000 mural is underwritten by the Los Angeles-based AIDS research organization SEARCH Alliance. Anyone wishing to contribute to the group may “buy” a square inch of the piece for $1. Those who spring for a square foot ($144) will be rewarded with a deed of ownership.

Freeway immortality awaits those who sponsor a square yard ($1,296); their names will be inscribed on a bronze plaque at the site.

The mural is one of about 45 art projects that enliven the views along the Los Angeles freeway system.

Caltrans gets lots of applications from artists, said spokesperson Irma Lopez, but most lose interest when they discover they have to come up with their own funding.

In exchange for a permit, Caltrans also requires that the artist prove the project has received community approval.

“It’s kind of hard to ask the motoring public what they think,” said Lopez, so the department usually requires a letter from a local official. In Carlton’s case, support came from Councilwoman Ruth Galanter’s office.

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The painting’s theme may be heaven; the working conditions are hell.

The project site--long and narrow--looks like a dog run. In fact, Carlton’s dog accompanies him to work every day.

The noise is jarring, especially as big trucks rumble by. And a fine layer of grime coats any exposed body part within minutes.

“The site seems to work like some kind of wind tunnel,” said Carlton. At the end of every day, he hoses down the dust and grit that swirl and settle everywhere. He can only imagine what he is inhaling. His sinuses are a mess.

Other dangers lurk. Several weeks ago, a $1,000 generator was stolen while he stood at one end of the site. Someone apparently pulled over, grabbed it and split.

Twice, the site has been tagged. (Carlton hopes to get an anti-graffiti coat on the mural before any lasting damage is done. And, just to be sure, he has purchased graffiti insurance from a Valley firm, at a cost of about $1,000 a year.)

Still, he adds, it’s more pleasant to work on the side of a freeway than under one, as he learned in 1986 when he painted the Odin Street underpass of the Hollywood Freeway. There, he sometimes wore a gas mask because exhaust fumes were so strong. A second mural, painted in 1991 at the corner of Beverly and Robertson in West Hollywood, made news when the building’s owner had it erased with white paint mere months after it was completed.

Whatever comfort is sacrificed during this project is worth it, he said, since this mural is permanent--or what passes for permanent around here.

Except for fading, Carlton figures the mural can last three or four decades.

Maybe by then, it will be an anachronism, a mere reminder of the time when there was no cure for AIDS--something pleasant to look at along one of the asphalt ribbons that connects us to our work, our homes, our friends.