Surplus Candy LA

 Surplus Candy LA was an amazing show that took place this past Saturday night.

I am a big fan of street art and can spend hours walking through cities looking at graffiti. My instagram (newly christened "LifestyLustLA") is, among other things, littered with pictures of art that I see on walls, sidewalks, street posts, etc. So I was pretty excited when I heard about the Surplus Candy LA show.

The show was organized by Hansky, who is an anonymous graffiti artist out of NYC. As his name implies, he is most noted for his parodies, in which he combines the works of British street artist Banksy and the face of Tom Hanks. He is an admirer of Banksy (Who isn't?),had grown up with the movies of Tom Hanks and thought it would be a fun idea to mash up the two. His first

image was one of Banksy's that featured a rat with a paint roller, to which he added the face of Mr. Hanks. He printed it out, pasted it on a wall at Mulberry and Kenmare Streets in Little Italy, NYC, signed it Hanksy, people appreciated the pun and voila. He posted it on Twitter and Instagram and it went viral.

Surplus Candy is a concept that Hanksy put together a few years ago. He wants to show that street art can happen anywhere, so he 

finds locations and invites street artists to participate.

In the case of Surplus Candy LA, Hanksy rented the abandoned mansion known as the Beckett Residence as a film location. Over the period of a week, 50 plus street artists came and put their touches on the mansion until almost every inch was covered. Then, on this past Saturday night, they opened it to the public for a mere 4 hours before closing for good. I am not entirely sure if they painted over everything and returned the mansion to its former self. One would kind of hope so, as it is a designated historic mansion. Here is kind of an interesting article about the house, itself, and how Hanksy procured it, etc Contraversial Hanksy Project

I am a real estate agent and find it sort of fun that the place is on the market for 900K. Compared

to the prices on the westside which can go for up to $1500 a square foot, I was curious to see what $129 a square foot could get. The place is amazing, though is totally falling apart and the graffiti didn't make it better, as far as a place to call home goes. The house is full of a ridiculously ugly teal carpet. Take that shit out and put in wood floors for starters, and the place could be magnificent. But, honesty, the place could be a money pit. It needs SO much TLC.  On the plus side, It IS a mansion and close to DTLA which is getting more and more hip. The neighbors were kind and welcoming. My son got a hot dog from the guy next store that he expressed was the best one he had ever had.

I am surprised that only 2000 people came to this show. I was happy to expose my kids to a completely different experience in a neighborhood that we wouldn't normally explore. Surprisingly enough, my kids were the ONLY kids there, though admittedly parts of the show were inappropriate and there was some weedy smells that they couldn't identify. Most of it went over their heads and they enjoyed it immensely. It was such a special experience and I am so grateful to have seen it. It really is great to get out and see things because, really, you don’t know what you are missing sometimes.