Women Power Shop in Venice

by Stan Greene

The seem to be close friends as they walk down Abbot Kinney in Venice, swinging shopping bags. The smiling women are wearing sheaths and blouson tops rather than pantsuits. AOC holds a shopping bag from Nati, where the mural is located.

Senator and former Presidential Candidate Elizabeth Warren, Speak of the House Nancy Pelosi, Vice President Elect Kamala Harris, former First Lady Michelle Obama, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, and the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It is a scene that calls to mind Da Vinci's The Last Supper,

I think the message is that we're all the same, and that even the nation's most powerful women want to wear dynamite clothes.

After someone at Buzzfeed tweeted the mural, disparaging it, thousands appeared to photograph it. . "This mural inside an LA boutique is the most cursed thing ever made," wrote Rachel Zarrell, a creative director at Buzzfeed.

Most of the hundreds of people who have come to photograph it, find it inspiring. Some on the left though find it demeaning.

"Who in America today really would enjoy an experience on Abbot Kinney just shopping and having fun?" Ron Brawer, one of two owners, told LAIST.COM. "I felt those women really deserved it."

Brawer was surprised by the response to the mural, which he claims has been overwhelmingly positive, despite the fact that the female pols are neither wearing masks, nor socially distancing.

Brawer believes it's mostly Republicans who complain, since only Democrat women are depicted. I doubt that this is the case, since Cancel Culture comes from the Left, and Republicans are more inclined to laugh stuff off than Dems are. But then, that's just like my opinion, man.

"It's not easy to find a right-wing Republican woman who I feel deserves to be on the wall," Brawer said. "Susan Collins, Ivanka Trump - I mean, they just don't represent who we are."

Brawer notes that the piece is perfect for the current divisive national mood, with America divided over the response to the pandemic and the 2020 national election.

"Who in America today really would enjoy an experience on Abbot Kinney just shopping and having fun?" Brawer said. "I felt those women really deserved it."

The purpose of art is to break through the clutter and get noticed. In a political age, this mural certainly does that, and more. Good work, @GZJR!