PAINT OFF – OBEY

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CANOGA PARK - Maura McCarthy was driving down the 101 Freeway when she saw a graffito of a pair of eyes glaring from a soundwall.

That dazzling splash of paint two years ago ultimately led McCarthy to found Off the Wall Graffiti - a force to turn talented taggers into would-be Rembrandts.

"All these kids need is a place to create, where it's OK," said McCarthy, 47, a TV script writer and mother of two in Sherman Oaks.

"Take your inherent talent that you are dying to express, and take it off the wall and put it on canvas."

On Sunday evening, her nonprofit group hosted a "Hip Hop for Art" bash that included a half-dozen hip hop artists, a comedian and up to 200 teens and young adults.

The fundraiser, at Cobalt Cafe in Canoga Park, featured an art demonstration by Alexander D.C.D. Smith, a former tagger turned professional designer.

Since January, Off the Wall Graffiti has encouraged wall scribblers from the San Fernando Valley to compete in "paint off" competitions online.

Working off such themes as "Create for the New Year," the taggers paint art on canvas, then photograph them for votes from across the Internet. A paint-off between Valley and Las Vegas graffiti artists is in the works.

Top ratings Winners get free art supplies and a trip to the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.

"This is a great concept - a great way for kids to stop writing on my dang apartment," said Denise Mendez, 28, of Van Nuys, who volunteered to organize the hip hop art event after discovering Off the Wall Graffiti via Facebook. "Put it on canvas."

McCarthy, who once designed album covers for rockers Madonna, Van Halen and Sammy Hagar, said she found inspiration from her daughter Caila, now 18.

While in Catholic school, Caila had pointed out top artistic friends who'd been kicked out of school for tagging.

The Off the Wall Graffiti founder hopes to create a $100,000 at the Art Center, so that tagger talent can win scholarships.

"My dream is that any kid who has self-expression and nowhere to put it can come to Off the Wall and get canvas, mentoring and possibly, scholarships," she said. "So they can have a future making art."

Summer programs

http://calarts.edu/cap

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