A youngster rides his bicycle past the Olabisi mural.  (BOB CHAMBERLIN / LAT)

Watching the riots on TV inspired commercial artist David G. Brown to create a comic.  (KIRK McCOY / LAT)

“My concept was to do this superhero, the L.A. Phoenix, who rose from the ashes of the riots to show young people there was a better way too solve conflicts,” Brown says.  (KIRK McCOY / LAT)

Artist Robbie Conal created the poster of a flaming nightstick that hangs behind him.  (KIRK McKOY / LAT)

Lula Washington says dancers’ response, “Check This Out,” scared many presenters.  (KIRK McCOY / LAT)

Willie Robert Middlebrook says his feeling of being lost in America recurs in his work.  (KIRK McKOY / LAT)

Seth Kaufman took himself out of the riot-artifact business in 1993. “I didn’t want to become ‘The Riot Guy.’ I exorcised what I needed to get out of me, and it was time to move along,” Kaufman says. “I came out of that year broke.”  (KIRK McKOY / LAT)

Kaufman’s 1992 “Reach Out and Torch Someone”, left, and his new, untitled work, right.  (KIRK McKOY / LAT)

David Diaz, in his home studio in 1995. Illustrations surrounding him are originals from the children’s book “Smoky Night.”  (DAVE GATLEY / LAT)