I'm Evan Mendel, I created this mural in Downtown Ventura on The Lu Ross Academy building in 2017. This mural has become a staple in Ventura, it is the first thing you see when you get off the 101 and head downtown, and is the largest mural in Ventura. Like all outdoor mural work, the sun and weather have an effect, and depending on how much sun the wall gets during the day, it can degrade the paint and make certain pigments fade. Unfortunately this building faces the sun for most of the day, and the colors on the face of the mural have faded drastically, also due in part to the smoke from the Thomas Fire shortly after it was created. The good thing is that this is an easy fix, all I have to do is spend a few days darkening the contrast on the face of the mural to account for the sun exposure and it will be as good as new, and will last a lot longer.
This is where the problem is,
Ventura uses the mural in all sorts of advertising campaigns to promote the culture and artistic scene in Ventura, it gets tagged on social media all day from tourists and locals alike. I figure it's the least they could due to help keep the biggest mural in the city look fresh. The response from the city was that, technically, in the contract is states that the upkeep of the mural is solely responsible between the owner and the artist. They basically wiped their hands clean of having to help me in any way due to a technicality in the contract........cool......
So this is my last resort, I normally don't air out this kind of stuff publicly, but I am super frustrated with this whole situation and feel like I have no choice. I feel very disrespected as a working artist, struggling to even get by in this town, that the city can't find the money to help me restore Ventura's biggest mural.
So It looks like it's up to us to raise the money. Please share and repost this link, if you have a couple bucks, anything helps!! Let's show Ventura that we do care about the arts and creative culture in this town, and that we have pride in our Artists!!