LA Times: A $15 million Compton arts center is in the works thanks to this formerly incarcerated painter

Thank you so much to Jane Horowitz and the LA Times for this incredible feature on Mr. Wash and his plans for the Art By Wash Studio & Community Center.

Read the full piece here and here’s an excerpt below:

Mr. Wash, 72, has lived in and around Compton for decades, his time interrupted by serving 21 years in prison for a nonviolent drug conviction he maintains was unjust. In 2016, President Obama commuted his sentence. When he was leaving prison, Mr. Wash told fellow inmates: “I’m going to go prepare a place for you.”

The artist is intent on fulfilling that promise. The Art by Wash Studio & Community Center, the site of a proposed $15-million facility on the artist’s property, is being designed to provide housing, studio space and support for formerly incarcerated artists with artistic talent. Its targeted opening date has not yet been set, but the exhibition, which opened March 29 at Mr. Wash’s studio, serves as a fundraiser for the construction.