Client: Weitzman

Overview

Austin’s premier commercial office and retail mixed use building, this 100+ foot-long hallway installation of seven unique mosaic dove cutouts floating atop hand-painted background wall graphics is the first of its kind to use contoured mosaic silhouettes blended with illusive paint layers and showcasing my pixelated glass mosaic “digital impressionism” approach. One of three main hallways, the themed artworks were created as part of an immersive artistic intervention at the Weitzman property and home offices building in central Austin.

Goals

The goals of this hallway feature and two others was to give an otherwise typical renovation some new life. Exciting for the customers, clients and staff who visit the space, the installations are fun and colorful, with lots of movement to help you fly down the hallways. The challenging perspective makes it nearly impossible to grasp the entire wall all at once, thus the repetition of doves in flight in a variety of natural poses, as well as the cacophony of color on the geometric Lowriders wall and the Dancing down Austin wall.
The building hallways had not been painted for more than 8 years, so the space was quite dingy and neglected. These artworks helped to transform the space much more so than a simple coat of paint would do.
Contracted to select the palette for all the hallways alongside these three main feature hallways, I was able to lift the dated space into recent years with trending Pantone-inspired colors and digitally-informed cutting-edge mosaic artworks.

Process

Frequent meetings with client stakeholders and a series of design pitches and revisions landed us on the three final concepts which would be fabricated over the course of a few months in summer of 2019.
Working with an expert fabricator to develop the seven unique dove silhouettes, we prepared the cleat hanging systems before panels received the artwork treatment. This ensured that each dove, weighing anywhere from 10-40 pounds, would be solid and secured permanently on the wall.
Prepared and sealed MDF was selected as a base substrate since the installation is interior and would hold firm without warping over time. The pixelated mosaic glass tile artwork was then laid by hand over a few weeks, and grout off-site.
Installation involved painting the sleek and simple background graphic with illusive drop shadow coloration to give a sense of depth and motion.

Additional Information

At the culmination of this project, the client was eager to commission another custom mosaic, as well as discussion around another hallway mural on the second floor. After this successful project, I found myself with plenty new ideas and excited at the prospect of further integrating dynamic light backing, or using a similar technique of setting off organic cut shapes and panels of imagery that give a sense of weightlessness, while flowing flawlessly with the wall itself. I hope to develop similar projects on an even larger scale in exterior situations, perhaps on parking garages or other landmark locations in need of some love.