John Pugh’s mural, the Drain has attracted quite a bit of attention. Painted on the side of a title company in Bishop, CA [satellite view], the Drain portrays

an agricultural Shangri La appears as a mural within a mural. This vision of the valley’s past derives from old paintings and photos, book descriptions, interviews, and visits to the less effected areas of Owens Valley. Breathing sweet orchard blossoms while gazing at the lush glory of this place 100 years ago, this depiction is not meant to portray a specific vantage point yet rather allow the viewer an ambient experience of the ecology.
If your eyes are diverted to the drainpipe, this is by design. Like a black hole that allows no light to escape, the protruding drainpipe absorbs all color in its proximity. The odd shape surrounding the pipe is actually a preserved section of the under painting, but conceptually it serves as an after image, or ‘ghost blotch’. It is a stain that is created by the absence of color information – or metaphorically, of life. Written words like ‘water’ and ‘tree’ or even ‘green’ are some of the sketch notes, but historically these are the line items that have virtually disappeared into the drain.

Everyone should take a drive up or down the Eastern Sierra. It’s a region of stark beauty, glorious mountains and desolate lakebeds, whose water has long since been shipped 200 miles southwest to the LA Basin via the LA Water and Power District.