At the corner of Cloverfield and Broadway Street in Santa Monica, there’s a unique “office” building, where the company, Rock Paper Scissors, calls home. Some think that the 4 sided graffiti laden building is “vacant.” Actually it’s not—it’s a creative factory for the world’s biggest brands and companies.
I’ve passed by this building many times, always wishing I had my camera, and today, I finally did. Needless to say, I took full advantage of the moment.
Painted in 1991 by Severe, Den, Risk, and Slick, the Untitled mural was originally commissioned by the building’s previous owners, Cinergi Pictures Entertainment, Inc., but superbly kept intact by its new owners. Rock Paper Scissors. RPS are “editors for the world’s top directors, studios, and advertisers.”
They received two Oscar nominations in 2009. In their empty looking Graffiti HQ, Rock Paper Scissors works with leading international companies, including Levis, Nike, Volkswagen, Nationwide, and Apple, to name a few.
Their creativity is obvious, as exemplified below:
The audio in this advertisement, is the original recording of Walt Whitman’s voice reading from four lines of his 1888 poem, "America."
I’m not surprised that they kept the visual stimulation of this building intact, because when Travelin’ Local, Graffiti isn’t only art–it also means Big Business.
