A brush with Classical Mythology: Artist Steve Shriver revives a piece of Los Angeles history
The library ceiling at the Heinsbergen house features Steve Shriver's mural of Zeus and Ganymede. Photo by Mark Tanner Painter Steve Shriver operates at two speeds. He can whip out a watercolor like a skateboarder thrashing downhill. Or he can take his sweet time: nearly a decade, so far, on a current project. Lean and tan, with a sunburned nose, a soul patch and pierced ears, Steve Shriver looks like he was born on the beach. The 52-year-old artist grew up next to Rocky Point, or as he calls it, “Ground Zero of Surfing.” Although surfing, biking and skateboarding are passions, he spends much of his time indoors painting Rococo murals worthy of a European palace on the ceilings of a historic Los Angeles mansion. Los Angeles erupted as a center of modernity after World War II and is best known in the art world for the “Light and Space” school of sleek, ultramodern art. Shriver uncovered another Los Angeles. In the early days of the movies, Anthony Heinsbergen designed murals for hundreds of theaters across the country, including the Warner Grand in San Pedro. By 1930, Heinsbergen had accumulated enough wealth decorating movie palaces that he was able to build and decorate a palace…
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