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Public art is in the DNA of BlacklistLA. The group appreciates how artists beautify city walls and inspire urbanites while on their daily commute or workout. It was this concept that triggered\u00a0an idea from the organization\u2019s founder Erik Valiente – how cool would it be to curate specific art works that speak to the journey of being a runner and pushing them towards their goals – murals that were dedicated to us, runners in L.A.?<\/p>\n
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Valiente enlisted lululemon athletica<\/a> and\u00a0DoArt Foundation<\/a> as partners to bring this concept to life, to create large-scale public art installations executed to speak to the runners of L.A. directly. From the beginning, this project was focused on the power of community, art, exercise and the urban phenomenon of running through public art as a form of motivation and discovery of Los Angeles.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n On February 8th at 10PM in downtown L.A.\u00a0the product of this philosophy was born at\u00a0the\u00a0LOVEISRUNISLOVE<\/a>\u00a0event where\u00a0energized runners embarked on a run for the purpose of seeing street art curated to inspire them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Under the direction\u00a0of Carmen Zella, Do Art\u2019s founder, the installations were scattered throughout\u00a0downtown Los Angeles. \u201cWe wanted to achieve diversity with both the styles of artists and the type of artwork.\u00a0 Each artist approached the concept of creating a mural to celebrate the Love of L.A.<\/em> and Run<\/em> a little differently,\u201d Zella said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Artist Drew Merritt conducted a photo shoot with the BlackListLA runners and selected a composition that commemorated them, while Bunnie Reiss created a unique mural based on the love of Los Angeles and community spirit.\u00a0 Artist Calder Greenwood created two giant 12 foot cardboard sculptures of a running Astronaut and a running Hermes to sprinkle along the route, and WRDSMTH wheat pasted quotes to inspire and motivate runners during the experience.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the words of Valiente, “how cool is it to be recognized and used as inspiration for an artist you admire?” As a result of LOVEISRUNISLOVE, runners now have an art destination in the city that is specific to them, where they can actually see their influence in L.A. and in the art community. What\u2019s more, DoArt Foundation took care of city permits so the art installations can be kept alive \u2013 the group even transported the art along the L.A. Marathon and Olympic Trials courses for everyone to enjoy!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n About the partners:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n BlacklistLA<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n BlacklistLA connects runners to community, art, and people while providing a safe and energetic environment. By engaging our community in exciting athletic events that foster movement, local discovery, cultural awareness, and civic pride, we empower runners to discover the streets of Los Angeles now and forever. Fiscal agent, Los Angeles Chinatown Firecracker Run Committee, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.\u00a0blacklistla.city<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Do Art Foundation<\/span><\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Do Art helps to develop artistic projects that revitalize physical and social landscapes.\u00a0 <\/span>Through partnerships and support, Do Art creates experiences that connect communities, engage the public\u2019s imagination and motivate cultural exchange, and harnesses art\u2019s power as a source of hope, inspiration and change. 501(c)(3) registered non-profit organization. doartfoundation.org<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n lululemon athletica<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Lululemon athletica is a yoga-inspired athletic apparel company with products that create transformational experiences for people to live happy, healthy, fun lives. Setting the bar in technical fabrics and functional designs, lululemon works with yogis and athletes in local communities for continuous research and product feedback. lululemon.com<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Public art is transformative when artists exhibit work in a community<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4040,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,11,21],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4028"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Drew\"](\"http:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Drew-300x200.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Bunnie\"](\"http:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Bunnie-300x200.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Calder3\"](\"http:\/\/artzealous.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Calder3-300x200.jpg\")
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