Retail Clerks International Union (REIU)

Local 707 5955 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, California

1957

N/A

Oil paint on canvas

Unknown

Unknown

Retail Clerks International Union, Local 707

Unknown. (The building still stands, but no longer houses REIU, Local 770. )

TVS digital records.

Van Sant received this commission while studying for his MFA at the Los Angeles County Art Institute (now Otis Art Institute), when he won a competition held among graduate art students in Los Angeles and vicinity. It was made for the REIU’s new building in Hollywood. The raw canvas visible in the photograph’s upper right edge and the unfinished appearance of some of the figures suggest that it may record a sketch or a grisaille stage in the work. Alternatively, unresolved aspects of the work may result from student inexperience.