Muralist Robert Vargas’ shares his pride in the Los Angeles Dodgers and simultaneously pays tribute to Major League Baseball’s two-time most valuable player Shohei Ohtani with his latest and one of his largest projects, “L.A. Rising.”
For Vargas, it is an aspiration that combines his love of the city and its rich cultural diversity. But he needed a canvas. He approached the management of the Miyako Hotel in Little Tokyo who, after seeing Vargas’ extensive body of work, approved the creation of a 150 ft tall x 60 ft. wide mural on the 11-story hotel’s east wall. The mural will be visible from the First St. bridge which connects Little Tokyo to Boyle Heights.
Scaffolding was erected and work began this week with a projected completion date of March 27, the day before the Dodgers’ opening day.
“Fans of baseball will be able to gather in the Little Tokyo community with a shared city pride and appreciation for the Dodgers,” stated Vargas. “I can’t think of a better place for this tribute to Ohtani and the Dodgers, and I thank the Miyako Hotel for giving me the canvas to share it with the world.” The Miyako is a flagship hotel for the Kintetsu Enterprise Company of America (KEA) and a subsidiary of Kintetsu Group Holdings.
Vargas’ conception depicts Ohtani in his batting stance and as a pitcher, although the Japan-born player will not be pitching until next season.
Vargas typically begins his projects with a conceptual drawing but paints freehand without an outline or image projection. A fifth generation Angeleno, he is known for his mixed-media portraits, murals, and live events. The mural will be one of his largest.
In 2022, he was honored by the L.A. City Council, which named an intersection for him in the Boyle Heights neighborhood where he grew up.
Vargas is known to Little Tokyo stakeholders as the artist who donated his time to create a mural at the new location of the Suehiro Café at 4th & Main Sts. after it was evicted from its Little Tokyo location.