Trump Pigs on the 10 Freeway
Like many folks, I sank into a hole two Novembers ago. I’m not saying I was hiding in that hole, but I slid far enough down in there that I might as well have been. Eventually I began climbing back out, finding hope, mostly through my students. Sadness and anger don’t go very far, I kept telling myself; you have to do something too.
Someone who’s doing something is Riot, the 55-year-old artist behind the “IMA PIG!” Trump graffiti that can be found all over Los Angeles. I see two of those piggies — he calls them “Trumpedos” — every weekday on my drive to work, and they bring a smile to my face. It probably doesn’t hurt that the first pig appears on the 10 right when my coffee kicks in.
Riot has been making art in public since the late 1980s, when he and another artist named Joker founded the Non Stop crew. I chatted on the phone with Riot recently about the meaning behind the piggies and why he keeps climbing on the freeway at night. Our conversation below has been edited for length and clarity.
