A fresh start can be as simple as a fresh coat of paint; in a collaboration between the Culver City council, The Culver Arts Foundation and the City’s Artist Laureate Katy Krantz, the former gun store on Washington will get a new look and a playful focus when Krantz leads the creation of temporary mural, replacing the words on the building and using new colors to emphasize the change.
Krantz spoke to the Culver City Arts Foundation Holiday Party on Dec. 14, 2023, about the project, saying “The mural that I’m proposing for the store will switch the words from the store – ‘Guns’ is one of the words featured prominently on the store – and change the narrative, so that there are different words [on the building.]”
Phillipe Roc, noted documentary film maker, will be shooting a video on the mural process. “Walking a child to school, those big letters that say GUNS – it’s a lot to take in.” Speaking to the Culver Arts Foundation along with Krantz, he recalled a conversation with his daughter, walking by the building. He told her that the space was in transition, and would soon be something new.
The City Council unanimously approved a proposed temporary art mural at the Dec. 11, 2023 meeting, on the former Martin B. Retting Gun Store.
This coming week, (weather permitting) crews will begin to paint the building. It is expected that Krantz will begin her proposed mural in January 2024. With community input, new words and graphics would be painted on the building in the same font styles and approximate locations as those of the former gun store.
The current proposal, as shown by the illustration, is an imagining “that “GUNS” could become “CARE” and “WE BUY GUNS” would become “We ARE ONE.” A brighter color palette would be used, but a visual link to the history of the building would be retained.
While it’s expected that the building will be repurposed and/or redeveloped in the coming year, changes will begin with a new look.
Judith Martin-Straw
Graphic – proposed temporary mural on former store, from Artist Laureate Krantz
