The Truce Between the Crips and the Bloods

By, Teresita Gaitan 

 

          “The Truce between the Crips and the Bloods”

                   Artist: Sandow Birk 

Sandow Birk is a Southern California artist who mainly focuses on the American life in Los Angeles during the 1992 riots. I found this painting the most interesting compared to the rest of his collection. This oil paint is called “The Truce between the Crips and the Bloods” and we see both gangs trading their guns along with their colored bandanas representing unity and truce. This is an important event that happened during the riots because these groups members were fighting each other but they both shared a common enemy, the LA Police Department. Crips are the ones in blue, on the left-hand side and then the Bloods are on the ones in red on the right-hand side. There is a diversity within both gang groups we mainly see African-Americans and Latinos. On the front of the painting we see two dogs fighting aggressively and that could be an interpretation of how these gang members were fighting against each other before this truce. 

Behind the truce of both gang members we see what LA looking like during the riot. There we could see fire in different areas, a total of about 6 fires. With three on the Crip side and 3 on the Blood side. I could be wrong but the fact that the fires are divided in half between the both gangs could mean that the artist believed that they both played an equal part in the looting of the city. The fires are the background and the painting is focusing on the fact that these reveals had a truce because they had to unite to protect their neighborhood from their true enemy. The biggest fire in the painting is right next to the pole that has the American flag to show that America is falling. This painting is inspiring with many different perspectives but the most important message is written in the center of the painting which reads “The Truce Between the Crips and the Bloods”.