Instantaneous Memorials on Street to “Army of One”

As a followup to yesterday’s posting regarding the passing of Jef Campion, known as the street artist Army of One/ JC2, it is perhaps no surprise that nearly immediately there are a couple of tributes to him on the street – at least in LA.

Street Artist Free Humanity sent us these new photos of a new stencil piece by Teach_Art_One featuring Jef looking over his shoulder at you and placing his name on the wall. According to Free Humanity these new works are on the spots that Jef had hit when visiting Melrose and Fairfax in Los Angeles.

A brand new memorial tribute to Army of One in Los Angeles. Teach_Art_One (photo © Thrashbird)

“I was blessed to call him a brother,” says Free Humanity of Army of One. FH feels that the new stencils appeared as a way to keep him on the streets. Awash in the grief of the moment FH wanted to say “the only way to have someone live forever is to never stop loving them.”

Apart from the high emotions of this time, we wanted to remark that this act of the tribute wall is analogous to the myriad walls that have been going up for decades in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York – usually in the community mural style – to mark the passing of someone. Sometimes it is a community leader not related to art but of great standing to the people who live in the locality. Other times a tribute will commemorate a person in the context of an historical event that they were pivotal to.

A brand new memorial tribute to Army of One in Los Angeles. Teach_Art_One (photo © Thrashbird)

Graffiti crews have been paying tributes to their fallen for many years on memorial walls. Over the last year for example we have covered a large number of walls made by the crew and friends of graffiti writer Nekst. Needless to say the act of crossing out, going over, or dissing works like those would be considered to be as close to sacrilege as the streets can imagine.

These new stencils honoring Army of One carry on this tradition and it is additionally visually remarkable because the newly sprayed stencil is a street art piece depicting a street artist who is putting up street art – It is akin to looking at a mirror’s reflection in a mirror.

Photographer Thrashbird’s Instagram is @thrashBird13

<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA

Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA