Mural Rescue Program

SPARC’s very own MuralShield – Demo:

SPARC’s MURAL RESCUE PROGRAM has been working to preserve, conserve, and restore murals (both painted and digital) that have been painted or printed on substrates and walls built in the public environment.

SPARC’s MuralShield* has advanced the consolidation techniques developed by conservationists to become more compatible with acrylic on concrete murals and refined chemically the sacrificial coatings used for graffiti removal with hot water. SPARC was the first to test and employ the sacrificial coatings with hot water removal in the production of murals co-sponsored with City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. SPARC has experimented by successfully employing new biodegradable substrates and inks for large scale prints and have also developed on-screen painting techniques. The digital mural has eliminated the need for expensive restoration on these new works and has become an option for effective removal and replacement of lost works. SPARC currently distributes the chemicals for restorations nationally and also can produce large-scale prints for any artistic production.

Our procedures meet the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works Standards and Practices and are defined as follows:

a. Restoration: as traditionally practiced, focuses its efforts upon returning an object or work of art to the objects original aesthetic state, an assumed condition, or an earlier appearance.

b. Preservation/Stabilization: Measures employed to slow active deterioration and ultimate loss of an artifact or artifact component.

c. Conservation: focuses on the stabilization and preservation of an object using preventative measures to inhibit on-going or future deterioration of the object or its components. This is accomplished by selecting methods and materials that do not adversely affect the artistic objects´ original materials and are reversible. Conservation efforts may but do not always include aesthetic recovery.

Contact SPARC:
685 Venice Blvd.
Venice, CA 90291
310-822-9560
info@SPARCinLA.org

SPARC: ART | COMMUNITY | EDUCATION | SOCIAL JUSTICE | SINCE 1976

SPARC Mural Restoration Projects

Please click on the links below for more information.

Hitting The Wall 2007 & 2013
In recent months there has been a proliferation of tagging on murals throughout City of Los Angeles freeways. This has resulted in the whitewashing of several murals by Cal Trans. Judy Baca’s 1984 Olympics mural has been nearly destroyed; the entire bottom half of the mural was ‘grayed-out’, apparently in mid-October. Not the work of taggers this time but by an anonymous freeway graffiti paint-over program

Josefina Quezada Mural Restoration 2012
Mural Restoration of Josefina Quezada’s “Treet of Knowledge” a partnership between SPARC and Los Angeles County Civic Art Program…

Alice Patrick Mural Restoration 2012
Funding from the Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas for SPARC’s Mural Rescue Program, made it possible for Alice Patrick’s mural “Women Do Get Weary But They Don’t Give Up” to be fully restored, completed with an anti-graffiti coating, it will remain for another generation to come…

Poetry Monument Restoration 2012
The restoration of the Venice Beach Poetry Monument…

The Great Wall Restoration 2011
The restoration of the Great Wall of Los Angeles is a massive undertaking. Every segment of the 2,750ft is cleaned, examined and treated to bring it back to its original state of brilliant color. Within the three…