Community Rejuvenation Muralist Desi Mundo

Desi Mundo

Strong coffee this morning with Desi Mundo, visionary artist and  founder of the Oakland-based Community Rejuvenation Project. Desi grew up tagging and writing on the walls of Chicago and eventually became an airbrush artist of renown. His work in Oakland and surrounding towns has covered the walls of schools, grocery stores, housing projects, bridges, and buildings threatened with demolition.

Desi was in town to complete a new street mural at 75th and Coles, and to present a series of 5 vivid portraits of Liberation Theologists of Latin America, created in collaboration with artist Lavie Raven. He also presented a portrait of the beloved late educator Sarah Spurlark to Hyde Park's Ray Elementary School, which Desi attended as a child while Spurlark was the principal.

Sarah Spurlark mural

The Community Rejuvenation Project in Oakland brings together artists to work with communities in creating new art that reflects the stories of residents and their institutions--schools, playgrounds, parks, housing projects and even grocery stores. CRP describes itself as a "policy to pavement organization that cultivates healthy communities through public art, beautification, education & celebration." To learn more about this work and the art of resistance to gentrification, privatization, and destruction of communities, visit:  http://crpbayarea.org/