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Having lived
in Mexico and San Francisco where murals
are part of the landscape, I had for
years wanted to do a large mural of my
own, something a little different from
the usual mural style, which had always
seemed too bound to mural traditions and
conventions. Why not simply do a large
painting, a studio painting on a grand
scale? In December of 2005 I did finally
get such an opportunity, having been
invited by my step-brother and
sister-in-law, Jack and Marina Rauh, to
paint a twenty-two foot by fifty five
foot mural on the side of their house in
Arizona, no restriction, just whatever I
wanted to paint. It was an exciting time
for me. At age 67 I was at last doing a
mural, with no requirements as to style
or content. I relished every moment of
preparation, making various designs and
changing them until I had produced
something like a horizontal painting
filled with a great variety of things
and a wide range of colors.
Our
mural company, which we eventually
decided to call "Monkeys with Brushes"
consisted of five people: Robin, an
artist friend from Alaska and Mexico, my
three nieces, all artists of one kind or
another, Gabriel Marien, Steena
Marigold, and Chelsea Starfield, and
myself. We worked well together and we
all, I believe, had an exhilarating
experience, in my case a dream come
true. On at least two occasions in the
evening after work we watched "The
Horse's Mouth" on Jack and Marina's
television screen and, coincidence or
not, ever since then when I see a blank
wall of any size I immediately begin to
paint a mural on it with my imagination.
Our mural was done in the country, in
the hills of Arizona in a place where
not many people would see it. That was
not the point, of course. But it did
make me think that if a mural could add
beauty to a country setting that had a
natural beauty of its own how much
better served cities would be if they
were filled with color and beauty in
places where none had existed before.
After we had finished the mural in
Arizona we all went to Mexico and
painted two smaller murals on the
outside walls of a house on an estuary
of the Sea of Cortez. After that
the mural company dispersed and we have
not had occasion to paint another mural
together since. But we have remained
close and ready to jump in with
paintbrush in hand when another
opportunity arises.
The
question humanity needs to ask itself
is: when we walk down the streets of a
city do we want to see blank gray walls
or do we want to see walls with color?
There are those who object to murals on
the grounds that they often carry a
political message, however subtle or
indirect. Murals do not have to be
political any more than gallery
paintings have to be political. If
loving color is a political statement in
itself then it must be true that
everything is political. So the
political aspect is neutralized, and the
same question remains: solid gray
or colors?
Mural art is not always great art. And
being prominent, something that hundreds
or thousands of people may see every
day, there is the issue of who should
paint the walls. However that problem
may work itself out, the question
remains: to paint or not to paint?
Perhaps a first step could be to turn
gray walls into orange or magenta walls.
Human civilization does not often choose
to do what is best for it. There is too
much fear and desire to control (and to
be controlled). The extravagant use of
color is too much of a wild card for the
accountants and designers of the
workplace, and others in charge of the
urban setting where business interests
always come first. Nevertheless, I do
hope and believe that one day our cities
will be a mix of parks and other natural
settings, along with a good strategic
sprinkling of manmade edifices rich with
color.
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