[dropcap size=big]I[/dropcap]f the Los Angeles school district moves forward with plans to paint over a mural at a campus in Koreatown, it could also lose a separate campus mural by artist Shepard Fairey, in a brewing cultural and political controversy that has caught much of the L.A. arts and education communities off guard.
“If Beau Stanton’s Ava Gardner mural is removed from the Robert F. Kennedy school I have chosen to insist that my portrait mural of Robert F. Kennedy be removed also,” Fairey said in a statement on Instagram.
The school district had announced this month that it would erase Beau Stanton’s mural paying homage to Ava Gardner, after a group of Korean-American activists complained. Members of the Wilshire Community Coalition object to a representation of sun rays radiating out from around Gardner’s profile at the center of the mural. They say the rays look disturbingly similar to the sun rays radiating out from a symbol of the rising sun on the Japanese imperial battle flag.
[UPDATE: 6:15 pm] LAUSD has put its decision to remove the mural on hold until after January 7. "As a result of the extensive input, there is a need to have additional conversation. Therefore, we will not be taking immediate action on the mural at this time,” district official Eugene Hernandez said in a statement.
According to Jeong “Jake” Chan-yong, a lawyer and president of the Wilshire Community Coalition, his members are willing to wait and continue the conversation.