Kent Twitchell's Ed Ruscha Monument Painted Over

via ArtForum online, 06.05.06:

Los Angeles Mural of Ed Ruscha Painted Over

An iconic mural by artist Kent Twitchell, Ed Ruscha Monument, has been painted over with no apparent warning and with few clues as to who ordered the painting, reports the Los Angeles Times' Scott Timberg. Twitchell, a pioneering figure in Los Angeles' relationship to freeway and roadside art, created the six-story work in acrylic paint in the late '70s and '80s. "To not be notified, to have it be a fait accompli.... It will take a while for the shock to wear off. It was sort of my Mona Lisa; I worked on it for nine years," said the artist. Twitchell, who lives and works in Los Angeles, said he had contacted a lawyer and planned to file a lawsuit.