Los Angeles Remembers Basketball Legend, Kobe Bryant

Image featuring Kobe Bryant and daughter, Gigi, courtesy of billboard.com

On the 26th of January, the city of Los Angeles mourned the death of Los Angeles Lakers legend, Kobe Bryant. At only 41 years of age, Kobe Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash, along with his 13-year-old daughter, Gigi, and several other passengers. After his unexpected death, Los Angeles erupted into a wave of depression and proceeded to dissolve into a state of mourning. However, artist Jules Muck quickly grew inspired by the impact that the death had on her city.

Muck began graffiti in Greece and quickly spread her art throughout the rest of Europe. Then, she moved to New York City, and in 1999, Ecuadorian-American graffiti and mural artist, Lady Pink, found Muck illegally spray-painting a rooftop. From there, Lady Pink offered Muck an apprenticeship. Once joining Lady Pink’s team, Muck was painting murals and private commissions throughout the east coast. However, in 2008, Jules muck decided to pack everything up and drive cross country to California. She settled in Venice and lived out of her car. After living in her car for several months, Muck was able to become financially solvent by painting on the streets. 

She is most famous for her mural and graffiti work around Venice, often emphasizing the color green in most of her work. She painted the Hotel Casa del Mar mural and was honored at exhibits in various local galleries, including LAB ART Los Angeles and the Pacific Design Center.

Almost instantaneously after Muck found out about the helicopter crash, she was making calls trying to find any available memorial mural locations. One of her friends contacted her when they noticed there was a blank wall, across from their apartment building, of Pickford Market off Washington Boulevard. 

By 4 p.m. that same day, there was a portrait of Kobe and his daughter, Gigi, plastered upon that formally blank wall. The painting truly captures the close bond the two shared, by featuring them, cheeked pressed against one another, smiling at their city.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Daily News, Muck explained how she, “was really upset while I was painting, fighting back tears, especially the ‘Daddy’s Girl Banner,’…It just meant a lot to me. My dad was ill and so their death just hit me, and I knew I definitely wanted to mention [Gigi]”.

The mural quickly impacted Log Angeles, and soon, a stream of people constantly came to visit the mural and paying their respects to their lost hero. An accumulation of candles and flowers have gradually gathered beneath the mural, as more and more people have appeared for visitation.

The amount of time and emotion Muck poured into this piece truly paid off. In the same  Los Angeles Daily News interview, 21-year-old Patty Ramirez described how she, “just thought it was amazing for someone to take the time to do this, and do it so fast”. She then went on to explain how she had seen many other Kobe murals scattered throughout the city. But, this one stood out the most because it did not only feature Kobe but the idea of family and community.

In incredible speed, Jules Muck captured a monumental moment in Los Angeles history and was able to depict the emotional toll the deaths had on the city. By using her art and an outlet for expressing her grief and despair after the loss of a legend, Jules Muck brought people of all different backgrounds together, in a way that is rarely seen nowadays.