Levi Ponce Essay

Levi Ponce was an American with Salvadorean roots from his father, Hector Ponce, and Guatemalan roots from his mother. He was born in 1987 in Pacoima in the San Fernando Valley. At an early age, Levi Ponce was surrounded by art. His father was a sign maker, so Levi helped his father complete many of the signs made. Helping his father allowed Levi to exhibit many artworks and designs along Los Angeles. Since, Levi was surrounded by art at a young age, he decided to remain in the art world. As he got older, he applied to California State University of Northridge, where he received his bachelor's degree in animation in 2009. As two years past, Levi finally decided to start creating art. In order to make a change with his art, he decided to start creating murals back in his community of Pacoima. He wanted to change the negative attention Pacoima

received through his art.
Levi Ponce believed the vibrant color and the communities value could change the negative image his community was given.

Levi was a self employed muralist. As he began to create murals, he first found a relevant person to include, like a celebrity and a message he wanted to share. He then combined the both to create a beautiful mural on the wall. In Muralist Levi Ponce Uses Van Nuys as a Gallery by Ed Fuentes describes the different art works created by Levi Ponce. In Fuente’s article, he includes Levi’s reason for his murals, "I try and find these things that unite us and get them on the walls. I don't go into a neighborhood with my ideas. It reflects the neighborhood that raised me"(Fuentes,2013) Basically, Levi has a reason for doing the murals. He does not randomly do art on the walls. With his art, his ultimate motivation was creating a change in the place he called home. Levi’s background of Pacoima allowed him to get a better idea of the images he wanted portrayed on walls. Additionally, many of his artwork uses a different culture of what he saw growing up instead of the image other people believed Pacoima to

be.
Levi Ponce has created many murals, with different meanings and reasons. One of his murals, I find interesting is called , ‘Art Revolution’. This mural is really interesting the way he combined an image as iconic as the Mona Lisa with weapons and a mexican sombrero. As I was reading the reason for the mural, Levi talked about how he felt that during this time he was fighting to get his art portrayed as something positive instead of something negative. The reason he was creating this art revolution was because art on walls during that time was considered graffiti, which was illegal. However, with the help of his community he helped create the ‘Art Revolution’ and change the negative aspect Pacoima has. This particular mural was also interesting for me because this art is opened to different interpretations. Many believed that the image of Mona Lisa with the weapons and the sombrero was a resemblance to mexican “Soldaderas”. In Mexico, women were taking over the roles of men like participating in war, so beautiful women like the image of Mona Lisa were wearing sombreros and holding weapons. Many people considered this interpretation of women being seen as stronger and brave because Levi participated in the H.O.O.D sisters group, which was a group of feminist women that fought for equality. So they considered his artwork to be a montage to the fight the H.O.O.D. sisters were fighting.
After adding the first mural, Levi went on to having a full mile of murals behind different buildings. This mural runs along the street of Van Nuys. As you are riding down the street, his murals are hard to miss because all his murals are big and colorful. In ‘Interview with Levi Ponce’ by Anita Malhotra discusses a various amount of questions with Levi to get a better understanding of the different aspects that shaped Levi as a person and the art he has been involved in. In her article, Anita shares some of the other art Levi has been apart in ,”Ponce has worked on such films as Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Interstellar. He currently works at Walt Disney Imagineering” (Malhotra, 2017). Aside from murals, Levi has also participated in movies. He has left his mark not only in the Pacoima community but now is also spreading through his participation in films. Levi is beginning to spread his passion of art all through the different art he has done.
In all, the reason for choosing Levi for this project was because he is something I see every morning to my way to school through his murals. I also like the change he has made with his art in my community of Pacoima. That’s another reason I understand the change he wanted to make, I am born ad raised in Pacoima so I understand the changes he wanted to create and I relate to him a lot. His artwork has inspired many artist to create murals for a reason instead of for a price. He has honesty an influential person for his murals. The change he has created is astonishing and incredible to have just a few houses away from my houses.