Binta Ayofemi – Art of Rob

My mural in a book! – Painting the Streets

Check out some images from the new “Painting The Streets” book I’m in alongside many of my Trust Your Struggle Collective family and so many more Bay Area artists. Get a copy here.

Here is my first post about that mural as well.

The good folks over at the East Side Arts Alliance and Nomadic Press got together to make this book of all the artwork created in the summer of 2020 in response to the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Amhaud Arbery, and so many other victims of Police Terrorism in the United States.

Walls by Cece Carpio, Miguel Bounce Perez & Thitiwat Phromratanapongse, Nisha K Sethi, Priya Handa, and Robert Liu-Trujillo. That summer Cece, Nisha, Migs, Thi, and Rob hit the street to paint walls in frustration, solidarity, and creativity as the crew has done so many times in the past 19 years. We’re honored to be featured in this book by Nomadic and East Side.

The book features both artwork, essays, and poetry by artists and writers such as Alicia Garza, The Black Cultural Zone, Greg Morozumi, Leslie Lopez, Robin D.G. Kelley, The Bay Area Mural Program, Rachel Wolfe-Goldsmith, Kufue, Keena Romano, Timothy B, Zoë Boston, Maisha Quint. DonJuan Carter-Woodard, Amiri Baraka, The Illuminaries, Inbal “Bali” Rubin, Dime, Chris Granillo, Pancho Pescador, Oree Originol, Shi Shi, TDK Crew, DeVante Brooks, and words from JK Fowler of Nomadic Press and Elena Serrano of East Side Arts Alliance!

Dig this? Check out this video where I talk about some of my favorite art books

January 26, 2023

in General

Before/After

I painted this in collaboration w/ artist & business owner Binta Ayofemi. She came up with the design and Paint The Void commissioned it. Haven’t painted a big wall (30′ x 50′) in a minute so it was nice to get back up on the lift. It was painted with house paint, brushes, rollers, and Montana Spray.Shout out to Nisha K Sethi (TYS) who hooked this up for me.

Affirming Black Lives w/ the words “Reparations” and “Transformations” is a powerful statement. Despite the circumstances it felt good to collab with Binta and hear from every day folks. There were so many beautiful pieces painted in downtown and East Oakland since George Floyd and Breonna Taylor were murdered. This is not the first time I’ve painted a wall, banner, or painting in response to police terrorism and I know it won’t be the last. But, i’m encouraged by how many more artists (OGs and youngsters) out there taking control of the narrative w/their work.

The work we all create is part of a legacy of resistance. Keep creating young artists! Marathon over sprint. And please take care of each other. We got a long way to go.

Check out some of the process and close ups.