Famed LA Street Artist Mister Cartoon Featured In London Exhibition

By Joseph Hammond

Its Mister Cartoon’s world we are just living in it. A rare exhibition of street art in London has shined a big spotlight on the outsized role of a Mexican-American tattoo artist. The international partnership is just another example of how the Mister Cartoon has traded the inking tattoos for inking checks as a hip-hop business leader.

The BEYOND THE STREETS exhibition stretches across three floors of Saatchi Gallery and is set to close later this month. London’s marquee gallery is hosting this exhibition which includes works from a number of street artist over the past decades. There is a clear transatlantic approach and effort to meld together everything from hip-hop to punk-rock into one discernible street scene that has roots in the 1970s if not earlier.

“Los Angeles has been an integral chapter in the BEYOND THE STREETS story. It played host to our inaugural show in 2018 and became a permanent home in 2022 with the opening of our gallery and flagship space,” said Roger Gastman, curator of the exhibition which runs until May 9^th.

In a commanding position within the upper reaches of the exhibition is a instillation of Mister Cartoon. Part sculpture, part instillation and part street mural the piece is a fitting reminder of the streets from which Mister Cartoon emerge. The piece takes up an entire wall and features a stylized street mural, a street bike, and street signs proclaiming the intersection “Skid Row” and “Harbour Area.” Neither is a street in Los Angeles. Skid Row is a 54-block area in downtown Los Angeles known for its homelessness (as many as 5,000 by some definitions) and drug use. The Harbor Area is less clearly defined and includes portions of Long Beach, Wilmington and other communities in Los Angeles county. The reference is one of a handful of stark reminders of the desperate poverty which some street artists have transcended in the exhibition.

Mister Cartoon (real name Mark Machado) isn’t the only Los Angeles artist to be featured at the exhibition along with LA muralist and co-designer of Los Angeles Tourism’s logo, Shepard Fairey and Estevan Oriol. Oriol is the director and one of the stars of Netflix documentary LA Originals. Another West Coast artist featured is Chaz Bojórquez, who brought an innovative graffiti style to LA’s Highland Park in the 1970s.

“BEYOND THE STREETS understands how to exhibit my art to the world in an authentic, elevated way,” Mister Cartoon said in a media statement released with the announcement of the show, “With the show being in London, for the first time, it’s not taken lightly. I love the vibes, I love the people, and London loves LA and respects LA street culture. LA is in the soul of my artwork and what I do.”

Cartoon rose to prominence with his graffiti design which defined a generation and above all his tattoos which have adorned Beyonce, Eminem, Dr. Dre, Slash and many more celebrities.

Cartoon though has long ago cast aside funny business to become a rare street artist to become a business leader. He has worked with Microsoft, Nike, Toyota, Vans, and brands in Japan.

A true hometown celebrity recently designed a jersey for the Los Angeles Clippers and this year partnered with the Los Angeles Dodgers on jersey collaboration.