Federal Bar Mural

Photos by Nicholas Noell

WB Fontenot is a bit turned off by technology these days. The Los Angeles-based artist chose to tackle the negative implications created by our use of technology in his latest mural, “The Communal Distraction from Evolution.”

“The Communal Distraction from Evolution,” now permanently embedded into the high-slung walls of Downtown Long Beach’s Federal Bar, serves as a critique on the effects that digital communication can have on our daily lives.

“The piece as a whole highlights the positives and negatives of our communication through social media,” Fontenot told the Post. “The piece breaks down our interactions with digital communication and places it into scenarios.”

Fontenot, who is best known for his photography of Playboy playmates, took careful consideration to incorporate both an artistic and philosophical approach with this latest work. The mural serves as an art piece, but also, according to the artist, “allows for those who view it to find some deeper meaning.”

Federal Bar Mural 4Fontenot chose to paint the mural on wooden boards, at his off-site studio. The painting was then transfered down to the Federal Bar and now serves as the bar’s center piece. Painting the piece off-site allowed the artist to place a great amount of detail into the piece and allowed him to develop a social awareness for his work.

“I put a lot of detail into this piece,” said Fontenot about his use of coding and references to literature scattered around the painting. Featured in the piece is the depiction of a figure, dressed in a dark suit, fishing off a moon floating in a starry blue sky. “The character of the guy fishing, sort of like the Dreamworks logo, that in itself is a nod to the mass media,” said the artist. “The fishing line is in morse code that reads ‘time is but a…’ and at the end of the line there is a fish that is in binary code. The fish reads ‘string.’ Its a famous line from Henry David Thoreau’s Walden.”

The mural itself depicts a number of men, all dressed in dark suits, stationed on white fluffy clouds, set adrift on a blue backdrop. The men all seem to be distracted by their use of technology. As in one segment of the painting, two men sit on a cloud with their backs turned to each other, one stares into a laptop computer while the other does the same with a cellphone. In between them, stands another figure holding a sign that reads binary code, symbolizing the exchange of data between the two other men.

The depictions of the characters truly captures the isolating effects that technology can have on our daily lives, where all the men in the mural are in close proximity to each other, but are emotionally disconnected from one another. “The mural embodies the effect of our digital identities overpowering and imposing on the forward motion of humanity,” Fontenot said.

Federal Bar Mural 6In gaining inspiration for the piece, the artist drew from classical works. “I studied painting in Florence, Italy, and always been interesting in Renaissance art,” said Fontenot. “I based ‘The Communal Distraction from Evolution’ off of Michelangelo’s ‘The Last Judgement’ in the Sistine Chapel, and I used some of the same themes and ideas that are featured in Michelangelo’s work.”

The artist even went to the great length of using a map of star placement from the year 1541, to get the location of the stars in his painting, close to the placement of stars on the night that “The Last Judgement” was debuted. Beyond the placement of the stars, the skyline also boasts a divine touch.

“The horizon you are seeing in the mural, is from the direction of Vatican City looking towards Long Beach,” said Fontenot.

Besides his inclusion of the holy horizon, Fontenot found Long Beach and the Federal Bar a perfect fit for the mural, “a hip, bohemian place, that’s coming into its own.” Fontenot just hopes those who will come to view the piece will enjoy it for both its beauty and appreciate its meaning, “I hope people will like the aesthetics of the piece, but also take a moment to reflect on it,” he said.

WB Fontenot’s “The Communal Distraction from Evolution” is now on view in Downtown Long Beach at the Federal Bar.  

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