Art Center Honors Muralist With Festival, Exhibit

An evening reading of the new play “Road to Los Angeles” will highlight a day of activities on Olvera Street today as part of the Social and Public Art Resource Center tribute to the late Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros.

The art center, commonly known as SPARC, is hosting a week of events to celebrate its 20th anniversary, which coincides with the 100th anniversary of the birth of Siqueiros.

SPARC is best known for creating or commissioning more than 70 murals throughout the city.

Siqueiros, along with Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco, formed the grand triumvirate of Mexican muralists.

His controversial mural at the Italian Hall in Olvera Street, “American Tropical,” was whitewashed by order of the Los Angeles City Council in 1932 shortly after it was unveiled. It is undergoing a massive renovation by the Getty Conservation Institute.

The play “Road To Los Angeles,” which pays homage to Siqueiros, was written by Oliver Mayer, who also wrote the recent hit at the Mark Taper, “Blade in the Heat.” Set in the near future, the play is about a “guerrilla muralist” who paints radical murals along the freeway knowing that, like Siqueiros’ mural, they will be whitewashed.

“The play is an attempt to give young people a sense of politics,” said Mayer. “It is about focus and working together.”

The work will performed outdoors at Olvera Street beginning at 8 p.m.

On Saturday, SPARC will hold a festival at its gallery in Venice that will feature the opening of a Siqueiros exhibition, food, music and a silent auction. On Sunday at 2 p.m. there will be a lecture and discussion on Siqueiros at the SPARC Gallery.

Information: (310) 822 9560.