by @Fire_Isis
His art is powerful, his words even more so. Estria is known around the world and his nationwide Estria Battle that takes place in New York, Los Angeles, Honolulu and Oakland. Born and raised on O’ahu, Estria is a member of the old school class whose interests lie in a very unique type of youth advocacy. While most guys in their 40′s succumb to a solemn life of suits, ties and corporate ladders, Estria’s dedicated to getting the youth more involved in the arts, by way of legal graffiti… and illegal, too…
Spray paint cans in the hands of young folks is always better than guns and Estria is wondering what all the fuss is about; why are people so confused? The philosophy behind graffiti is pretty straight forward: “Art is meant to disturb,” Estria says. And with that perspective, art as graffiti is doing its bidding in Los Angeles while city officials and cops scramble to dismantle all evidence of murals or “public art” whether it is on public property or not.
By obliterating any trace of public artwork, city officials in cities such as LA and
Estria and Spray Paint Cans
Santa Monica are hoping to eliminate any temptation to deface property by way of graffiti vandalism. The only problem is, even if the owner of a private business has hired an artist to create a mural on the exterior wall of their own building, they must cover the art with beige paint or face a $5,000 a day fine. City police are even accused of intruding on public property and harassing business owners. Estria himself has made an effort to help another fellow artist, Saber to put the word about this moratorium on murals. One such organization being affected by this city-wide ordinance is environmenta
