“Pepper is a true street artist in the purist sense. Hes known to some by his altar ego; the Mayor of Skid Row, and hes proud to proclaim that hes the last homeless person on the forefront of downtown LAs gentrification. He lives on Santa Fe Ave. where years ago a large tent city used to be, the last holdout.
When I was younger and creeping around downtown, I would notice these colorful, bold, and scrappy art instillations. Pepper has a habit of decorating his immediate surroundings, wherever that might be, with multi-colored paint splats, piled on discarded toys, and other purposefully arranged found objects. You can frequently catch him running around the city with his red shopping cart full of freshly discarded trinkets.
The print Peppers World, and the mural I painted on 7th and Mateo that it inspired, is in homage to his existence. I have enormous respect for those who can survive in such extreme conditions yet still be able to express themselves creatively.”
-Saber AWR/MSK, 2010
