Murals | My Site

Murals

How do you create a mural that is both transparent and opaque, that can be seen on both sides of the wall at the same time, that still looks good with continuously changing light (on both sides) through out the day and night, and since it is graffiti, you only have a few hours to put it up?

"The Koi Pond"

24' x 9'

Acrylic and Spray Acrylic on clear plastic

mounted on glass panels of office facing the building lobby.

"The Koi Pond"

at night with inside lighting & blinds up

There are a lot of different views of this mural. This one, from the outside at night, with the inside lighting, and blinds up, gives one a good sense of the overall mural - though even here, the column in the lobby hides one of the eight (3 foot wide) panels.

"The Koi Pond"

Detail - Tiger in the Bamboo - Daytime from inside the office with lighting off & blinds down and open (left)

Detail - Tiger in the Bamboo - outside, with the blinds up (right)

Obviously, "The Koi Pond" is heavily influenced by centuries of Chinese artists with many traditional Chinese images from the Koi, to the Tiger, to the Crane; bamboo, willow branches, peach tree, water lilies, turtles, frogs, dragonflies, etc. Consequently, I intentionally left blinds installed in the office and kept them down, but open, to give the illusion that you were looking from the inside to the koi pond outside.

"The Koi Pond"

Detail - Fish catching Dragonflies

There are eight panels; 3 feet by 9 feet each. The panels are painted first with up to ten different colors of acrylic spray paint for the water, then several layers of acrylic paint are brushed on top of (and on top of) the spray paint.

Each panel has its own unique scene incorporated into the overall koi pond. Here we see a fish leaping out of the water to catch a dragonfly.

"The Koi Pond"

Detail - Frogs catching flies

There is a lot of survival of the fittest in the koi pond. I intentionally put into every scene an animal eyeing its dinner, but we never know the outcome. Here, frogs catching flies.

"The Koi Pond"

Detail - Crane catching fish

The crane dives for the fish not realizing that the tiger hidden in the bamboo is eyeing it for its own dinner.

This was taken from inside the office - hence the desk in the corner.

"The Koi Pond"

Detail - turtles (left)

Detail - little blue fish looking at floating peach blossoms (below)

Detail - fish (right)

There is some peace in the koi pond, too.

Little blue fish with peach blossoms_edi

"The Koi Pond"

Detail - fish looking at water bugs under the water lilies - at dusk.

The lighting on the mural was constantly in flux. The lobby had natural sunlight that came in from the outside, and the office had overhead lighting from the inside. This allowed the mural to transform with the light - from cloudy days to sunny days, and from daytime to night as the sun set, just like in reality. It was like how Monet painted his haystacks at different times of the day, but with only one painting.