Frank Romero Symbolism

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In Frank Romero's artwork "Going to the Olympics, 1984," there are many significant figures that symbolize the life of Los Angeles and the Olympics. There are obvious icons of L.A. like palm trees representing the beautiful weather and the very close cars representing the horrible traffic. There is also a stamp that may symbolize the communication back in the 1980's as well as the Goodyear Blimp, which often advertised its company. The wrestlers are there because during that time wrestling was a pretty major event as WWE matches were held at the Staples Center quite often.

Looking at the cars and their simplicity, Romero might see the cars as another naturally occurring thing in L.A. – almost as if they were trees. He puts a heart on top of …show more content…

The Caltrans didn't even notify him that the mural would be covered up which is very dishonorable, given the fact of how big of a figure he is in Los Angeles. I would have at least tried to make something work or find a different solution to the problem had the city told me ahead of time that they would take action towards this. I understand that the taggers could no longer be tolerated because these actions make a bad reflection on the city. If the painting had stayed up, other taggers might see it as a sign that the city no longer cares if they vandalize the city. The city couldn't put up with it so they covered it up without delay. There have been cases like this before such as Kent Twitchell's freeway walls being heavily defaced. Twitchell says," I'm not one who likes to have vandals with spray cans dictate the culture of a city." Seeing vandalized artwork will naturally upset the artist or make them feel some type of way about it. The purpose of putting the artwork up is for it to symbolize a certain …show more content…

Some members of the Caltrans organization are in favor and support Frank Romero because of his iconic role in L.A. Others don't want to help him because it's just a waste of money and time that isn't really necessary. In Adolfo Huzman-Lopez's article titled "End is near for some LA freeway murals due to graffiti," it says that "Caltrans spokesman Patrick Chandler said taggers returned, and that's why his agency agency launched, on a pilot basis, the Mobile Mural Restoration Project. 'After spending so many hours and days and several thousand if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair these, still vandals attack and defend these murals,' he said" He's saying that even after the huge amount of money spent the murals will continued to be vandalized over and over again. It also says," A Caltrans spokesman said freeway graffiti removal is an expensive process that can expose its crew to danger. He said the agency can paint over the murals if artists don't maintain them. That's what's happened - without the artists' permission - to at least half a dozen freeway murals." On the other hand MCLA's Isabel Rojas-Williams would start restoring the mural on November 26, 2013. The restoration had been getting delayed but eventually would get restored. I think they are doing the right thing by trying to restore it, but at the same time Romero should check his painting regularly to maintain it since the cit arguably owns it but

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