Art shows heart of community
100 Hubcaps project tells stories of Southeast Antelope Valley
LITTLEROCK — More than 100 chrome hubcaps hand-painted by local residents decorate the 90-foot long, light pink-colored east-facing wall of Que Paisa Restaurant on Pearblossom Highway.
The hubcaps feature stories within stories. One depicts a fire-scarred landscape with the words “Juniper Hills Strong,” a reminder of the devastation caused by the Bobcat Fire last year.
Another hubcap features a desert landscape with Joshua trees surrounding a stylized sun on a pinkish-purple background, accented with two stealth bomber silhouettes. There are hubcaps painted with images of lizards, snakes or golden-orange poppies. There is a cosmic hubcap with purple and pink planets on a star-speckled black sky. Another depicts a snowy winter scene. One depicts the artist’s version of artist David Hockney’s famous Pearblossom Highway painting.
The 100 Hubcaps project is part of the ongoing public art project produced by Real93543, a creative place-keeping initiative for the unincorporated communities of Southeast Antelope Valley. Founded in 2015 by artist and documentary filmmaker Robin Rosenthal, the project highlights community-specific narratives through documentary media, art education programs and public art.
Rosenthal started the hubcap project about two years ago when she tried to raise money for it and get paint donated.
“We did a community hubcap drive,” she said. “We tried to get people to contribute any hubcaps that they might have around.”
They hit the jackpot when the owners of the former antique store, The Orbit, told them they could have as many hubcaps as they needed.
“It looked like they had been buried in the ground or something,” Rosenthal said. “They were all dirty, there were all full of leaves in all their holes and nooks and crannies.”
Dollar General offered its parking lot for volunteers to do a scrub day to clean the chrome. They also provided a gift certificate for cleaning supplies. The people who scrubbed the hubcaps also wanted to paint them — more than 60 people participated and some painted more than one.
“We have a few blanks in there just as like punctuation points,” Rosenthal said.
The total number of hubcaps including the blanks is about 140. The original idea was to have four community workshops to paint them. Local artist Christopher Minsal led the first workshop in March 2020, a week later, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the state into lockdown.
Rosenthal organized a hubcap takeout instead. She ordered plastic cosmetic containers for the paint, which was donated by Blick Art Materials. She doled out the paint and hubcaps.
“I painted background colors to make it easier for people to get started,” Rosenthal said.
Some of the hubcaps were painted by a local Girl Scouts troop led by Minsal’s wife April.
The art display is intended to stay there.
“We’re getting a lot of good buy-in from the community,” Rosenthal said. “I think people are going to be keeping an eye on it.”
Artist Daisy Austin painted a hubcap depicting local town heroes Christopher Minsal, Jeffrey “Moldy Marvin” Hillinger and artist Carlos Mendoza.
“It’s a great community project and it shows the unity within our little town,” Mendoza said.
He thought the hubcap with his image and those of Hillinger and Minsal was “pretty funny.”
“I’m just a guy with ideas who likes helping his community,” Mendoza said.