Time-lapse video of mural painting by Phil Lumbang

My fellow Backwards Beekeepers Club member Russell Bates says,

Phil Lumbang is a local graphic designer who works for Obey Giant. He's also an outdoor artist, and he's been painting a series of friendly/polite bears all over the Eastside.

Amy came up with the great idea of asking him to paint the giant wall in front of our house, and he was excited about the opportunity.

Phil attacked the wall on Saturday, and the results are spectacular. I documented the whole process, including an interview, time-lapse footage of Phil painting the mural, and some of his other work in the neighborhood. You can see the video at my blog: http://www.porkfist.com

[#1 posted by MarkM, April 29, 2009 10:00 AM]

There's a Disney feel to his drawings (but the good, early Disney, not the saccharine 70s Disney). It's fresh, simple, original. I guess what I'm reacting to is, so much animation nowadays has a cynical or sarcastic feel to it, especially when drawing "happy" characters. These characters ain't frontin'.

[#2 posted by minTphresh, April 29, 2009 10:06 AM]

me likee!

[#3 posted by wolfiesma, April 29, 2009 10:11 AM]

Murals are the most wonderful things. I like what the artist did- but I like even more that the homeowners took the initiative to make public art from private space.

I really really wish more commercial property owners would give back to the community by commissioning outdoor art on their own big blank walls.

Ooooh, maybe if I just keep wishing, it will happen!

[#4 posted by JDavid, April 29, 2009 10:20 AM]

Fantastic. As a artist myself, I find his natural ability to conceive balance in large scale really great. I usually have to plan these things out pretty well...he seems to have an innate ability to roll off the cuff, which I wish I could do.

[#5 posted by brucegulick, April 29, 2009 10:23 AM]

"Spectacular"?

That's a mighty big word for some simple animals on a wall in three colors. Pleasant as they may be.

Now this:

http://www.connectedworlds.org/graffiti/seak_daim.jpg

or this

http://xemanhdep.com/gallery/graffiti_art/graffiti_art04.jpg

is, to my eye, much closer to "spectacular".

Just sayin'.

[#6 posted by gobo, April 29, 2009 10:43 AM]

I love his Awesome Bears. Politeness is the new hipness!!

[#7 posted by Anonymous, April 29, 2009 11:12 AM]

I drive past several of his murals every day and they totally brighten my commute. Good to get the story behind these adorable grafitti bears.

[#8 posted by Miss Jess, April 29, 2009 11:19 AM]

I have to say... I could watch time-lapse videos like this all day long. For realz.

[#9 posted by Random_Tangent, April 29, 2009 11:21 AM]

I love graffiti/mural time lapses. I cut a short documentary on a local graf artist in college. Fairly unspectacular, but the time lapse footage is awesome (Aside from the as of yet unexplained green flare that shows up as soon as we switched to manual frame advance on our elderly 16mm camera).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voH2toc1zcg

[#10 posted by Random_Tangent, April 29, 2009 11:22 AM]

Oh duh, time lapse starts at 2:12 in the above.

[#11 posted by Anonymous, April 29, 2009 11:43 AM]

I live in silverlake so I'll be looking out for this...

[#12 posted by Anonymous, April 29, 2009 11:59 AM]

Muto is my personal time-lapse favorite

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuGaqLT-gO4

[#13 posted by Ugly Canuck, April 29, 2009 12:33 PM]

Of course we should remember MUTO:

http://www.vimeo.com/993998

Seven and a half minutes of great stop motion wall art.

[#14 posted by Anonymous, April 29, 2009 1:35 PM]

I drive by them all the time as well, and I love them. My fiance and I love their message. In town full of inconsideration, this is much needed street art. Does anyone know the exact location in Silver Lake of this Mural?

[#15 posted by yoshitoshi, April 29, 2009 4:31 PM]

silverlake != eastside

[#16 posted by Anonymous, April 29, 2009 10:41 PM]

Phil's work is amazing. He does prints and HPM's. I own a few pieces of his fine art. Great stuff. He should be up soon on http://hchcngns.cm/ (site coming soon). Support this guy. Stay up Phil.

Peace + Love = Happiness!

[#17 posted by devophill, April 30, 2009 4:51 AM]

Great mural, cool timelapse, but know this: Silverlake ≠ "the Eastside". The Eastside would be east of the L.A. River. What I think you mean is the "East End", as in "the eastern end of the Westside". If you are west of the center (downtown) how can you be on the east side?

Aww crap, I just noticed Yoshitoshi's post @15. Oh well, it bears repeating.

[#18 posted by Willsan, April 30, 2009 11:18 AM]

I drive by this mural every morning. I like it, but the green is a little garish. I certainly hope the guy consulted the neighbors, since that mural is now the primary view out the living room of the house across the street.

[#19 posted by Manooshi, April 30, 2009 11:49 AM]

@17 Devophill:

Indeed, Silverlake is NOT the 'Eastside'. I am a born and raised Angelina-- and actually, we were taught growing up that the Eastside begins with East LA.

However, for a lot of the 'non-native' transplants that tend to live and/or started out living in the "310" area-- then Silverlake is the 'Eastside' to them. I've thought about explaining that they are technically wrong, but after taking an hour and a half to get to SL from Santa Monica at 5pm-- they seemed to be onto something there.

[#20 posted by Anonymous, April 30, 2009 5:13 PM]

For live timelapsed murals I love Rinpa Eshidan from Japan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKKl1bybZKg

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtzdxseO-gs

are good places to start.

Nic

[#21 posted by Anonymous, May 12, 2009 12:45 PM]

Thanks Mark for posting this (saw it first on your twitter feed)! I was able to get in-touch with Philip and buy a great piece for my wife's birthday!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/octopushat/3524981632/