Paul Insect is Attracted to Light at the Barracuda Wall

The Barracuda Wall in Los Angeles is a safe outlet for Street Artists and graffiti artists to try out ideas without worrying that they have to look over their shoulder. The boxing club inside is owned by Miguel De La Barracuda, thus it’s name and it’s a good spot to get seen, if only for minute before it’s replaced.

Paul Insect (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

What this fight club gives the lie to is that Street and graff artists are somehow at odds with one another, a mythology propagated by young hot heads sometimes. In fact, this high profile wall in LA shows that most peeps are big enough to allow everybody to get a chance to express the creative spirit, and often they collaborate. A quick bit of Googling will show you a diverse list of work on the Barracuda wall over the last couple of years, including people like Ron English, Gabe and OG. Defer, Prime, Gabe88, Anthony Lister, Escif, Sanir, Gregory Siff, Shepard Fairey and AWR MSK, Hush, Chad Muska, Cyrcle, Free Humanity, and David Flores. It’s a never ending reinvention for the never ending traffic on Melrose Avenue, a gift from a business owner to his community and the artists.

Photographer and BSA collaborator Carlos Gonzalez captured some excellent night shots of Street Artist Paul Insect at work on the wall one night last week. Masking out the portions of the wall for painting with a roll of masking tape, alternating sharp lines with drippy, Insect put up a pair of eyes to keep track of a piece by Risk below.