Katherine Bernhardt’s quirky public mural is currently covering the exterior walls of Venus Over Los Angeles gallery in the Arts District of Downtown LA just in time for the mid-summer heat wave.

Giant free-floating cigarettes, slices of watermelon, cantaloupe, papaya, toucan birds and sharks swimming with trash are playfully painted all over the wall with monochrome background sections of blues, pink and purple. Bernhardt’s cool-toned palette and repeated imagery beckons the nostalgia of summer with a fruity exotic verve and fits in with the whimsical and industrious neighborhood that takes the phrase “concrete jungle” to new heights.

detail of sharks with trash

This is the first large-scale version from Bernhardt’s popular still-life paintings, but she doesn’t focus on ordinary objects of our consumer-driven desires in urban culture. Here she opts to ditch New York’s hustle and dreams of a tropical paradise in Los Angeles.

Katherine Bernhardt, Fruit Salad, mural DTLA, 2015

Last weekend’s BBQ opening included tacos on the grill, cans of Tecate, graffiti-covered surroundings, and the sounds of ’90s hip hop to fully delight in our urban paradise. “Fruit Salad” is a preview to her upcoming fall show at Venus over Manhattan. The mural will be at Venus Over Los Angeles indefinitely.