Client: Atlantic City Arts Foundation

Overview

This mural was an engaging and thought provoking community project. Hired by the Atlantic City Arts Foundation, I made my way to the visually and culturally eclectic Atlantic City, NJ. I was given creative freedom to design a mural that I felt could transform this building, brighten the area, spark curiosity, and assimilate with but also stand out from the area and the old school apartment building and liquor store on which it was painted.

The mural is 40 by 60 feet and executed using only high quality spray paint. It is my signature style of bold and clean black lines, lots of color and shading, and a surreal approach to characters and visual elements that I find has a visually impactful contrast to the physical reality it is juxtaposed and also integrated into.

Goals

I had spent some time in Atlantic City with locals prior to this commission and it was important for me to represent the side of AC that most visitors don't see or ignore; the regular people who live and work there and the those that struggle on the streets off the beach. The area I painted in represented these people and the character in the mural is meant to represent them. There was some debate about leaving the background the original building color and slight state of disrepair but it was important to me to have that contrast with my clean black lines and bold colors and it also is more representative that way. Many of the wonderful characters I met in the area are as eclectic and colorful as my character and always in front of a beautifully derelict background.