JUSTIN BUA: THE ART OF IMMORTALITY

VOL 14 NO 2 - MARCH 12TH - MARCH 18TH / DTLAWEEKLY.COM 6

Help! I don’t know what to do. I agreed to adopt my recently deceased aunts dog. The dog lives in Hong Kong and I am afraid it could be a coronavirus carrier. I am afraid if I tell my relatives that I can’t take the dog, it may damage my relationships. Can I get the virus from a dog? Q: A Jennie, this is one of many emails and calls that I have received regarding the current version of the Coronavirus. COVID-19 :

It’s even more timely of a question, in the fact that I am currently in Vietnam and Manila giving training workshops. There is always a possibility that a dog can transmit the virus to a human. Currently there is a dog that has shown traces of the virus in its nostrils and mouth area. The dog does not show any signs of being infected. It assumed that the dog contracted trace levels of the virus from its owner, that is infected.

Pro Dog Trainer Daryl Young

Here is a quote from the World Health Organization “At present, there is no evidence that companion animals/ pets such as dogs or cats can be infected with the new corona virus. However, it is always a good idea to wash your hands with soap and water after contact with pets. This protects you against various common bacteria such as E.coli and Salmonella that can pass between pets and humans.”

I wouldn’t worry about the dog infecting you or anyone else. You are doing a good thing by giving this dog a loving home after the loss of its owner. When you get your pup, send me a picture. I would love to see him.

-Daryl Young America’s Dog Trainer

8 DTLA ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE - JUSTIN BUA BY KERI FREEMAN DTLA ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE

Iconic Outdoor Advertising I t’s not everyday one gets to drink coffee and chill with one of the world’s most popular contemporary artists, but that is in part what Downtown Weekly has set out to do. Not only interview the most influential and highly revered artists of our generation, but to share their space over the course of a few days, to see just what makes them tick. Artists in Residence 2020 presented by Kevani Inc. is now in full effect.

This month, we were lucky enough to nab an interview with artist, author, motivational speaker, and charismatic art critic - legendary artist, Justin BUA.

Yes, the same world famous artist Justin BUA who taught figure drawing at USC for a decade and the same guy who later went on to write the idea and vote for a Bruce Lee stamp while on the US Stamp Committee; The same Justin BUA who has sold more prints than any other artist on planet earth! The first artist to ever paint the narratives of Hip-Hop. And today, the same BUA who is becoming just as well known for his commercial work as he is for his very entertaining and sometimes cynical art history vlogs upon which he posts daily on social media. (Instagram @justinbua) JUSTIN BUA - PHOTO BY STEVEN LAM

He is the Justin BUA and this is his story as told at Cafe Demitasse in Little Tokyo on the morning of March 4, 2020.

Timing is Everything As soon as we announce who we are for the record, a woman sitting at the same table across from us catches his name. The effect of her coffee is instantly magnified, “You’re Justin BUA?”, she says with a surprise.

We spark a small 3-way conversation (as we record) about her own collection, the artists who inspired BUA and the artists the two mutually admire; Salvador Dali, Frida Kahlo and a short list of others. She promises her next piece will be a signed limited edition BUA print, then it’s back to our two-way interview as she scurries off to work.

BUA, of Puerto Rican and Jewish descent, we find out, is from Harlem, New York. Not only from NY but from a time in New York that spawned B-Boys, poppers, breakers, Graff writers and the earliest stages of Hip-Hop music - a.k.a. Old School.

And timing is everything. BUA is spawned from the age of Hip-Hop when Hip-Hop was Hip-Hop - still relatively positive, underground and newly emerging. A time when producing graffiti art on the city’s walls and transportation systems was surely the most daring.

This was the time of a raw, young BUA, notably gifted, who had long been receiving accolades in grade school, which ultimately led to a scholarship across the country to study at Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design at age 20.

It’s not everyday one gets