Frank Romero's 'Going To The Olympics 1984'

In Frank Romero's mural, "Going to the Olympics 1984," the artist captivates the audience's attention by creating a mural at a freeway with powerful symbols such as cars, horses, two men wrestling, hearts, palm trees, post stamp, blimp and an iron. In addition his choice of colors wraps the image up making an inspiration and something that is cherishable. Each object has it's own meaning and that is for the audience to think of. When I see the cars I visualize what California in particular, Los Angeles is like since it is busy and we are dependent on cars for transportation. Not only that, but it reminds me of all the fun adventures I go in when I'm with my family. The hearts placed on top of the cars may demonstrate the love we have for cars or the love we must demonstrate to everyone and the love for mother nature. The palm trees are California's symbol as we are known as having great weather. Since it is supposed to be made as a homage, the iron demonstrates one of the Olympians before becoming one as he used to be an actor and made a film using
an iron as a space ship. The two men wrestling, the blimp, and the horse also have to do with the Olympics as both are seen in them. Lastly the stamp means the communication we have and must not stop. Overall the mural is nice eye candy but when really studied, it means a thousand words.
Based on Frank Romero's mural, "Going to the Olympics 1984," without a doubt, the composer feels fondness in regard to the car culture being used and one can tell through the use of colors that set the mood and the hearts placed on top of each car. The choice of colors he uses are the warm palette and when we think of warmness we think of love and happiness. The red and yellow at the top is similar to the love and affection being shown and the literal warmness of Los Angeles. Although some may argue that the purple being used in the bottom doesn't demonstrate neither warm or cool colors, in fact you're correct about that but the hearts placed on top of the cars evens that out. The image is mostly positive as some facial features can be seen on the people inside the car and they are happy. To further add on, the artist places this mural at a freeway where there are a lot of cars. His choice of location is unique as it can warm up the hearts of people passing by making them remember any memories they have with loved ones through all the adventures.

Frank Romero's mural was everything to him.
He worked so hard on that mural and it not only brought happiness to him but tourists and people who live around there as well. After receiving the news that his artwork got painted over it was devastating. It was like history and celebrated the past Olympic games. His mural, "Going to the Olympics, 1984," was painted in the heart of the city of Los Angeles. It was all nice and created many memories but in the year 2007, according to Adolf Guzman's article, "The End is Near for Some LA Freeway Murals Due to Graffiti," the mural was completely painted over! Which not only disturbed residents living near there but the artist himself sued the Caltrans for doing this rash decision. He was successfully able to get his mural back but in 2009, some pesky taggers, tagged the whole mural obstructing the wonderful, multicolor image. This again caused chaos and a lot of work to restore
it.

Looking at all the articles that demonstrate Frank Romero's response towards the vandalism of his mural, I believe it was the right thing to do and is good that he spoke up. As an artist, I can relate to Romero since an art piece takes a lot of work and time to finish and if it gets destroyed you get frustrated. Just one mistake and you want to shoot yourself, not literally but it does cause a lot of pain and anger. I wouldn't consider Romero's actions as rash but the correct action. Additionally, the people who lived there really liked the mural and felt it as a piece of their home. It completed them since it painted history and many people could relate to the certain pieces of imagery that was selected. It demonstrated what Los Angeles is and how we have unity with each other.

If I were given a choice to agree or disagree with the choice made by the Los Angeles response to the destruction of the mural i would disagree because they painted over the mural instead of sending someone to repaint over the parts where graffiti was at. What the Caltrans did not know is that these murals meant a lot, not only to the artist, but to the people who lived there as well. In Adolfo Guzman's article, "The End is Near for Some LA Freeway Murals Due to Graffiti," the author interviewed art conservator, Donna Williams who said the following about the murals, "It was always a pleasure to come to certain parts of the freeway and see the murals that you loved. Some you liked, some you didn't like so much. They were there. And like all art, it was evocative." Just like Williams, several other people grew warm to it and were angry on behalf seeing the Caltran's response to the graffiti. In my perspective I would be angry if one of my drawings or even a piece of writing that I put time and effort were to get destroyed or vandalized. I would get even more angry if the people who you can tell to make a change did nothing about it or offered to recycle it or paint over it instead.

Based on the tagger's graffiti on a wonderful piece of art I believe they were doing the wrong doing. I believe that there is a time and place for everything. The taggers should change there tagging to graffiti art and create another work of art that will express who they are or what they feel. But they should definitely not do it on someone else's painting. As for the murals, I believe that they do belong there. I feel that art is a way to express your emotions and create something beautiful that can inspire others. It is like a piece of history and many people enjoy seeing these murals. Mostly because they may have grew up with them. Many townspeople feel safe with these murals as tourists come and visit as we saw on a video report. Due to these reasons, these murals are worth protecting and restoring, despite the expense. The best way to save city artwork is to continuously check on it and if they see anything suspicious going on, people should report it. As a community they can volunteer to paint over any paint that seems to be washed away. The people who tagged or destroyed the artwork should be responsible with the expense. That way they will think twice before vandalizing another mural ever again.