Every afternoon, when I return to Culver city on the Expo Line from my office in downtown Los Angeles, I have a front-row seat to admire the Branded Arts Building at Washington and National. For my money, the art-bedecked building is a superb welcome to a city defined by its culture and its vibrancy.

According to Branded Arts Building curator Warren Brand, the property's owner has plans to tear down the building in January or February of next year. Brand is sanguine about this decision: he and all of the artists involved knew the project was short-term -- that was part of the reason that it existed in the first place. However, Brand has announced that Branded Arts will be throwing a special celebration event on October 6 to celebrate the building -- more details on that will be forthcoming.

The January/February deadline also mean that you should waste no time in checking out the building in all its glory 

Lately, there has been lots of activity at the Branded Arts Building, so over the next couple of weeks I'm going highlight five new murals on the location, beginning, today, with 'American Phoenix' by Australian artist Meggs. 

The piece has gotten great reviews from the art press including this from the Daily DuJour website:

His Phoenix has a visceral impact — simultaneously menacing and majestic. The captivating imagery  is fueled by  the use of pattern-like elements  comprised of alternating colors.   The  aesthetic is highlighted in the mythical bird’s red and orange fiery feathers which have a fluid appearance, swirling amongst each other yet ending in bold, angular strokes.   That his crisp line work is achieved with spray paint makes the result all the more impressive.   The zig-zag white and red stripe background pattern along with sparing use of blue amongst the bird’s feathers, complete the piece which offers hope arising from the ashes of previous failures.

Here's some pics of Meggs at work on the piece, from the 12ozProphet website:

And an example of Meggs' similarly fiery fine art work: