Jetsonorama was recently invited to Durango, Colorado to put up a mural, but the story of how the wall came to be is as interesting as the finished product. The mural, headless heroes of the apocalypse, is from a photo that Jetsonorama took while he was in Baltimore earlier this year for Open Walls Baltimore, and now it seems that Durango’s city council is warming up to public art a bit like Baltimore, with special thanks to an 11-year-old boy. Here’s what Jetsonorama wrote about the situation:
in durango my crew there (nick jones, aaron schmitt and brian raymond simmonds) told me about what they went through to get the wall i was going to work on. this past spring they had a graff show called open art surgery: an exploration of public art where a small group of artists from all over the country came for a gallery show. several people collaborated for a kick ass mural loved by the community on the side of a gas station with the owner’s approval. however, the mural violated the city’s sign code. so rather than let the wall go since the mural had so much community support, aaron and his friends met with the city council (i think it was) and presented information at a public forum on the issue as to why the mural should keep running. one of the objections the city had was that the artists hadn’t prepped the wall and the mural was already starting to peel.
dig that. that was one of the city’s concerns as opposed to being totally closed to the possibility of starting a mural program. one of the people who stood before an audience of his community members was 11 year old nick brieger, a big time fan of street art. he was devastated at the thought of the mural leaving. he and his dad know where the spots are around town and will go watch writers paint asking them questions about the process. brian totally digs the art form.
yeah, so anyway – nick was happier than a pig in stink to be working with us yesterday and we were happy to have him there. it’s his wall. he stood before city council and fought for it.
Photos by Jetsonorama