ROOSEVELT ELEMENTARY — Before the murals, many students would think twice before stepping foot in the bathrooms here. Drafty, dark and smelling of urine, some parents said their kids would rather wait all day to use their bathrooms at home than venture into the lavatories at Roosevelt Elementary.
All of that has changed within the last week thanks to a little paint and a whole lot of imagination. Instead of dirty white walls with globs of wet toilet paper stuck to the ceiling, kids can look up and be treated to colorful, fun-filled images of pirates playing volleyball, “The kids are just amazed by (the murals),” said principal Jerry Harris. “The bathrooms have become the most popular places to be on campus.”
Parents can’t seem to get enough of them either.
“It’s just wonderful,” said Susanne Lubarsky, who, with scores of other parents, volunteered her weekends to help paint the school’s four restrooms, each with a different theme. “In the end, no one wanted to leave. I don’t even have boys at this school, but there I was, kneeling by (the boys’) toilets painting away. We all had so much fun.”
And they said they owe it all to celebrated muralist David Legaspi, who over the last six years has painted more than a dozen murals on every campus in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District — many of them free of charge.
“David’s spirit and his passion made this project possible,” Lubarsky said. “He loves his work, but at the same time he is so selfless and always finds a way to share it with everybody. To make it so everyone, from the youngest kids to the oldest parents, could be involved took so much work, and he pulled it off brilliantly.”
Don’t tell him that. While parents who have painted alongside Legaspi have nothing but praise for him, the 45-year-old will not take any of the credit. It’s not that he isn’t appreciative of the love and support he receives. It’s just that Legaspi isn’t the type to bask in the spotlight. In his mind, he is merely an instrument to be used by residents to make their surroundings come alive, and in the process, build stronger ties with one another while introducing young people to the magic of artistic expression.
“The community is the one who did this. I just helped pull it together,” said Legaspi during an interview last week at Roosevelt. “What I love most and what keeps me inspired to do this is the reaction from the community, to see strangers come together and leave as friends. All of these different people uniting, I love that. Part of the charm of the work is having all these different people with their different brush strokes blending to form a unique composition. That’s the fun part. That’s the purpose of these projects.”
For Legaspi, who first turned to art as a child growing up in the Philippines, art is not solely aesthetics. The professionally trained architect feels that that creative process is just as important as the product; art is not just about pleasing the eye, but about changing lives as well.
“Just a few minutes of painting can last a lifetime,” Legaspi said. “To think that helping one child paint a fish on a bathroom wall can somehow lead to them becoming an artist, or to even appreciate art a little more, that is wonderful.”
The Daily Press sat down with Legaspi at Roosevelt last week for the official unveiling of the bathroom murals and talked with him about his career, the joys of working with community and his plans for the future.
How did you get started painting murals at schools?
“Well back in 1999, I was working as an architect in Malibu … Many of my friends had children in the schools, so I thought it would be a great way to get kids involved in art if I would volunteer my time to paint a mural … So on holidays or weekends, basically whenever I would have free time, I would paint over there. Eventually we painted all the schools. I received some recognition for that and at an awards ceremony parents and teachers from Santa Monica schools called me, and they wanted me to do the same thing with their schools too … I found myself having so much fun that I quit my job. At first I told my boss I was going to take a little break to do this, and then I just got taken by it. I finished eight schools by 2002 and then the middle schools came calling, and the rest was history. Basically I do this at cost for the schools to make it affordable for them. In reality, I would love to do it for free … I usually end up doing it for less than budgeted, and I take that money and roll it over for the next project. I just take enough money to keep my head above water and the paint flowing.”
What was the reason for such a drastic change, quitting your job?
“It was really the positive feedback from the community. That drives me … For instance, when I was working with kids over at Olympic High School … it was the first time they were holding paint brushes instead of spray paint cans … One kid told me that he shook more hands — because of all the tourists coming by congratulating him on his work — than he did painting. It built up their confidence so when they got home they felt good about themselves and the mural on the wall. That’s very rewarding.”
What is the style of your private painting?
“It’s more like realism mixed with abstract and surrealism, that kind of thing. Most of the themes are like people, community, social life. Maybe one of these days I’ll be able to put a show together. Most people don’t know my style because mostly they’ve seen my commission work.”
Does that bother you, people not knowing you outside of the murals?
“No. I’ve come to terms with everything I do. I always come to terms before I commit myself.”
Who are some of the artists you admire most?
“I truly respect Leonardo da Vinci, not only for his art, but for his inquisitive mind. He was an inventor, an artist and a scientist, but also a humanist as well. He was so brilliant. Another artist I respect is Salvador Dali, just for his magnificent touch and skill. His ability to blend such realism with the surreal is truly unmatched.”
What are some of the interesting jobs you’ve had?
“Well, when I first graduated, I worked as an apprentice with this architect who I later found out was one of (Philippines President Ferdinand) Marcos’ private architects. Here I was, basically working for the president, and I was getting peanuts. That’s the kind of society I grew up in. I’m not putting the country down, but it is a third-world country. There is a lot of beautiful stuff there, but at the same time … it was a rough environment to grow up in. But those situations helped me become the way I am now, and I would never change that … I also worked for the U.S. Air Force at Clark Air Base. It was a great opportunity for me because I got to travel all over. I had wanted to study different building codes and ethics, and that gave me the perfect opportunity. My main job was to design facilities that would make the military community feel at home. I helped design gas filling stations and concession malls that would look more like buildings. That was a challenge because everything was regimented. You had to make everything following their specifications.”
Graffiti, or “tagging,” on murals is always a problem. How do you think cities can eradicate it?
“Tagging has always been a huge part of society. People want to put their statements out there. Many of these (taggers) are artists who just need to have a good avenue for exposing their art. For example, kids at Olympic High School. They are excellent painters, you just have to show them that a paint brush is better than a paint can, sometimes. You just have to organize them and show what they can do with their talent. You can’t avoid taggers. You have to have art programs to help struggling artists … As far as technology to protect murals, there is coating that you use … but that needs constant maintenance and there is never enough money for it. If you don’t fix it right away, the mentality of the tagger is, ‘Hey, I’m getting away with it so let’s do some more.’ It’s like a catch 22: Remove it and you take the risk of taggers doing it again because they see a blank canvas. Most of my murals, about 99 percent, have been left alone because, I think, they have subjects that relate to the community. There is a strong relationship with community, and (taggers) don’t want to desecrate that.”
Any hobbies besides painting? Any free time for yourself?
“You know, I’m always saying I’m going to wrap it up this year, but it seems that has just become an annual retirement for me. Hopefully sooner than later someone else will pick up the baton and lead by example. It is easy to be drawn away by the potential of what you could be doing for yourself professionally. I don’t have that temptation. It can be taken advantage of easily for any artist who wants to go in the direction of self promotion. It becomes self serving, and you get this narcissistic attitude. It’s easy for anybody in any business to get that way. I’m not into self gain. I just try to keep my composure and focus on what I am doing, and that is trying to make the community better. I know that going into my work, accept it and never try to fool myself. This is what I am about. This is my calling.”
The City Council has just voted to move ahead with creating a new cultural master plan to help expand and spread the arts. Where do you think they should focus their efforts?
“I support all fields of the arts … I think Santa Monica is one of the best cities in terms of its support of the arts … Why not murals that showcase the arts, like a promotion of the arts here? Coming from a visual standpoint, I think we need to encourage more murals … Ever since we’ve started projects at the schools, people are looking at blank walls in a whole new way.”
What advice can you give to those who have other aspirations but are too afraid to take that leap you did?
“All I can say is, there is this phrase, a day late and a dollar short. That’s always my case. So my advice is maybe, if you only had a dollar and an hour left in your life, enjoy it as much as you can. I’m hanging over the edge between success and bankruptcy, and I love it! I could say, ‘Hey, I’ll take these three private jobs and make some money,’ but then the schools are left with a need. Besides, if I take those jobs, I’d be locked up in some mansion for a few weeks — and then, I’d miss the toilets, man.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 27, 2006. Read the original PDF.