Schools
BHHS Alum 'Bendow' Makes It Big with Mural Commission at The Standard Downtown L.A.
Doodling on class notes and drawing on tennis shoes has led to art school and large-scale commissions.
Recognized for his intricate, playful freestyle that he calls “doodling,” artist , a Beverly Hills High School 2010 alum has expanded his work a thousand-fold with super-sized murals.
Waldow is currently putting the finishing touches on a 40-by-6-foot wall of art as a part of the 6th Street Mural program created by The Standard Downtown L.A.
Waldow, who goes by "Bendow," is the latest artist—and at 19, the youngest—to participate in the program that got its start in 2009. The hotel has featured such established artists as Buff Monster and Deedee Cheriel, according to Emily Nerad, marketing manager for The Standard.
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She also likes to include new talent, and said she initially discovered Waldow’s work through an article on the website Los Angeles, I’m Yours.
“His style and mindset reflects the aesthetic of the hotel,” Nerad said.
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With its asphalt-black background as a contrast against Waldow’s iconic shapes and characters painted in safety yellow-orange usually identified with stripes on roadways, the working title is Street Art, Waldow said.
“This is crazy working on something so much bigger than I am,” he said. “I’m left-handed, and I’ve been using both hands to finish.”
His nickname was created by his middle school history teacher, Joanie Garratt who teaches at at . In the 10th grade at , he began customizing classmates’ canvas tennis shoes, a business he continues—along with other commissioned murals—to help pay college tuition.
The Standard mural is his fifth large-scale public project. Waldow is entering his junior year at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago this fall where he is studying printmaking and sculpture.
“I’m just having fun,” Waldow said. “Who knows what will happen next.”
The hotel is located at 550 S. Flower St., Los Angeles, CA 90071. The mural space is at the corner of 6th and Flower.
Editor's note: Ben Waldow is columnist Ellen Lutwak's son.
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