Dark Progressivism (2015)

From the blood on the streets to the walls of the galleries, Los Angeles artists share their experiences with inner city violence and their use of creativity as a form of redemption. Out of the explosion of the crack epidemic, gangs, vandalism, and stepped up police response during the 1980's, a new urban mentality developed. The community's reaction to police suppression resulted in criminal artistic expression as a form of rebellion against the social ramifications suffered on the streets and a rupture of previous art styles. Narrated through first-hand accounts by artists and academics such as: Defer, Prime, Big Sleeps, Gajin Fujita, Chaz Bojorquez, Chris Blatchford, Hector Tobar, Chris Brand, Cryptik, Richard Valdemar and others, this eye-opening documentary tells the story of a local nativist tradition in artwork that helps explain how the dark aspects of the built environment combined with forward-thinking principles have influenced contemporary art. As tattoos, murals, graffiti, and cholo lettering/culture become more mainstream and acceptable to modern society, so does the importance to understand the rich tradition, training, craftsmanship, discipline, scholarship, and trajectory of the dark progressivist art form. Internationally, Los Angeles art and culture is championed for its forward-thinking principles and style, thus, as it continues to gain momentum and artists around the world begin to imitate Los Angeles traditions, it is imperative to demonstrate how it developed.