This fall, Labrona spent two and a half months and a lot of energy painting an atypical mural, formed of 4 ceilings. He only had time to finish three of them, he was forced to stop by the arrival of cold weather. He will have to wait till spring to finish the rest. But what you are able to see actually is so beautiful I found it would be a mistake to not show it now! This last project of Labrona’s was a collaboration with MU and the city public transport, the STM, that commission a few murals to the mural organism.
It’s the second time Labrona has worked with MU (first mural here) and this time the space was more complicated to approach both physically and creatively. So, the result of his work is impressive. When I asked him how it was painting hours and hours, outspreading at 3 meters above the ground, what where the major difficulties, he explains it like this: “My face was pressed up by the ceiling so I could never see the whole of what I was working on. So I worked in squares, like a grid. That way, I knew where I was. I had to move the scaffolding around all the time to reach different parts of the ceiling. Basically I spent over 2 months lying down with my arm up in the air.” Regarding the public area, here is what he says: “Also, it’s a busy place so a crowd of faces seems like a good idea. Except the faces are still unlike the busy people moving all around.” so, that was it! 3 ceilings, faces, birds, and a lot of patience!
