The mission of the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture is to advance arts, culture, and creativity throughout LA County. We fulfill our mission by providing services and support in areas including grants and technical assistance for nonprofit organizations; professional development opportunities; commissioning civic artworks and managing the County’s civic art collection; implementing countywide arts education initiatives; research and evaluation; career pathways in the creative economy; free community programs; and cross sector creative strategies that address civic issues. This work is framed by the County’s Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiative and a longstanding commitment to fostering access to the arts.
Deaccessioned and demolished on December 8, 2010
LACAC web text:
Motivated by a desire to create art that is unpretentious and easily accessible to the public, Rip Cronk and Beach Art, Inc. teamed up to create Alphabet Block Construction. Perched on the sand at Mother’s Beach in Marina Del Rey this three dimensional mural construction was the first of a proposed 30 life guard towers to be produced by Beach Art, Inc. at Los Angeles County beaches.
This project of painted life guard towers was conceived by artist Sergio Premoli as “The Official Open Air Art Museum of Los Angeles County Beaches.” Premoli and Beach Art, Inc. hoped to bring art out of museums and make it accessible to children through the life guard towers. In Rip Cronk they found a kindred spirit who believes that murals “are meant to have a street meaning and a meaning about new ways of combining the fine art context in society.”
Cronk worked with a team of 10 students and teachers from Venice High School to produce this 15’ h x 10’ w x 12’ d life guard tower, painted to resemble a child’s alphabet building blocks. Around the sides of the tower the blocks spell out phrases like “Way Cool,” “Be Free,” and “Play.” Alphabet Block Construction was the first and only of the proposed 30 towers to be built.
About the Artist:
A Los Angeles native, Rip Cronk has produced murals around the world. He graduated with a BFA from the University of Florida and later received an MFA from the University of New Mexico. Following his graduate studies, Cronk lived and worked in Hawaii, the San Francisco Bay area, and Zurich, Switzerland.
Despite his world travels and global art production, Cronk is most well-known for his murals along the Venice boardwalk in southern California. In 1979 he became a muralist-in-residence for the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC), enabling him to produce eleven murals throughout the Venice region. These works include Venice Reconstituted, Homage to a Starry Knight, Morning Shot, and Situational Ethics. In addition to his many murals and graffiti-inspired studio work, Cronk has written a collection of essays that redefines the role of culture in post-modern society.
