Two hours of one movie can sometimes have a bigger impact on us than two weeks of our day-to-day lives at our jobs and homes.   . . .  that art and life can have a tangible relationship, is a hopeful one for anyone who has felt that their life has been changed by an album, an old movie, a painting, or a TV show.

It’s an optimistic way of viewing the world – one that is as open to the observer as the performer.
—Anna Leszkiewicz, In Defence of La La Land

A Hollywood Landmark You May Recognize

If you’ve been to Hollywood, then you may have seen the mural “You Are The Star,” which is located on the side of a building on Wilcox Ave at Hollywood Boulevard.

Tom Suriya painted the street art in 1983 “during the run-up to the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, when the city was putting on a bit more of a show for visitors” (Reeves, 2019). Suriya’s career in TV and motion picture digital effects began in 1987.

Demonstrating its scale, photographer Carol Highsmith captured the mural as a bicyclist passed in front (Highsmith, 2013).

If you saw the award-winning movie, La La Land (Chazelle, 2016), then you may recognize Suriya’s street art as the outside of Lipton’s Restaurant. Continue reading Suriya’s Street Art: Who Are Movie-Watchers in La La Land? →