An Artist Who Paints the Town

Odds are you’re not familiar with Brent Spears, but you might know his work. The lavish exteriors of Hollywood staples Wacko! and the Soap Plant? He painted those. He’s also responsible for the interior of the first five House of Blues club interiors, as well as 60 murals (painted with audience members) in 34 U.S. cities and 26 sites throughout Europe and Australia as part of Vans’ Warped Tour.

But his most inspired gifts are found throughout Los Angeles. Under the Love Los Angeles Mural Project, which he began in 1995, Spears has emblazoned schools, neighborhoods and freeway underpasses throughout L.A. With no predetermined sketches, he’s created 45 large, vibrant murals, most with the assistance of inner-city students. “I’ve always had a problem with schools being painted beige,” says the tattooed 37-year-old, laughing. He specializes in projects of both the legal and guerrilla natures. Putting one drop of paint on city property normally requires permission from the Cultural Affairs Department, but relationships forged with Operation CleanSWEEP and school officials have allowed Spears a gracious amount of artistic license.

“All my life, I thought, nobody asked me if they could build all this, all the concrete and freeways,” Spears says. “So why should I ask, if I want to paint it?”

This summer, Spears, partner Shannon LaBaw and a small group of painters will ornament every exterior of El Sereno’s Huntington Drive Elementary School--the first time an L.A. Unified school has undergone such a transformation. They’re trying to get the project financial support but want the mural to go up, regardless. As Spears says in his mission statement for the Love Los Angeles Mural Project: “The medicine that opens hearts and minds and creates vision should be available in large doses.”