Large format, seamless printing has opened up new opportunities for artists to make public art, especially for those of us who work from the comfort of an indoor studio. I hand-painted one mural in my neighboring town and swore I would never do it again. I find painting in the elements and on irregular surfaces frustrating and painstaking. Addressing curious onlookers also slows the process and breaks concentration, while scaling scaffolding all day wears thin.
My first outdoor mural depicting local history, is now aging and suffering from peeling and fading. The town would like it to be restored, and quite frankly, I’m dreading it and left asking myself if this could be a lifetime commitment?
A new mural assignment for the 2020 Ford Explorer came my way but with a twist. Since I was asked to create five antique-style maps of American cities, I assumed they would be enlarged digitally since there were considerable time constraints to completing the project. The agency took a different approach than what I expected by commissioning Colossal, a company that only hand-paints murals of any art you supply. As long as I wasn't doing the outdoor work, I was thrilled.
The campaign was layered to include social media and video of how the art was created from studio to outdoor space. The Eloqui studio workspace is not an open concept. In fact, it’s a converted third floor with high, angled ceilings and an interrupted footprint of dormers and cubbies. What it has that I love most is lots and lots of natural light. Everything I need is within reach of my chair, except for my desktop computer that has it’s own station. That’s by design.
I offered to supply working video to avoid having extra people in my close workspace. Filming me at work has been attempted before and it’s just impossible. I'm also accustomed to solitude and a focused environment so having an audience of even just one is unsettling. After all, I still needed to get the artwork done and on a pretty tight deadline. The video would need to take a back seat and be as unobtrusive as possible.
I set up my camera on a tripod and sometimes directly on my desk to record various aspects of the working process. It made me acutely aware and self-conscious when I would normally be immersed in what I was doing. I kept asking myself if something was blocking the shot like my head or my other arm. Am I moving too slowly, or too quickly? Is the camera focused properly? Should I have gotten a manicure? These were all questions that never cross my mind when I'm working without being monitored.
With about two-plus hours of video recorded, I sent it off to the production team at Lonely Planet who consulted on the map contents and would be steering the social media. They seemed pleased with what they had to work with so I was able to break down the tripod and return my energy on just finishing up the remaining art. Suddenly, with my head clear, I was able to work without distracting thoughts.
The first two murals were completed in Boston and Manhattan. The art director shared pictures of the final up-scaled work, with which he seemed pleased. It was impressive. The crew from Colossal painstakingly replicated the delicate line work and tonal variances of the simulated parchment background. I just imagined a good bit of cursing my name as they noodled their way from corner to corner. They had my empathy.
FINAL MAP GALLERY. CLICK TO VIEW IN LIGHTBOX