I had a wonderful experience recently while visiting my kiddo in Bushwick, NY and wanted to share. While I was there the Bushwick Collective event was happening, which is a street art, street fair and party in the Bushwick neighborhood. While waiting in line for a cuppa with my kiddo there was a woman wearing a Dodgers hat (go blue) and a cool shirt with the Vargas Dodger logo on the front. Of course we started chatting and it turns out that the great Robert Vargas was working on a mural across the street. Robert Vargas is an LA street art icon with some of the most bomb murals around. He paints very much from his heart and honors people, whether they be famous (Shohei Ohtani or Fernando Valenzuela) or local people of the community he is in. I got to watch his process, which is more like a block party, and see how he and his team of friends and fans communicate and chat up the local folx walking by. As a fan of street art it was magical to see how this all came together, to see the people hanging out that were painted in the mural, how Robert paints directly on the surface without any doodling, projecting or gridding. It was really amazing to see someone tackling the importance or belonging and community in such a beautiful and impactful way.

Currently Robert is working on a piece in Altadena, a LA suburb that was decimated by the recent LA fires. Check out this article about what he is up to and follow Robert Vargas on instagram for more inspiration from an artist that truly cares about people and belonging.