Fine Art on Walls

After the twin roll gates mural on Borinquen Place(Grand St.) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, was completed, I was offered to paint the span of the Hooper Street side on the same building. The wall space presented itself with some obstacles. The first was how I could reach that far up on the wall using spray paint without the proper ladder. The second was the actual surface of the wall. The building has been around a while and the wall was originally an interior space with wide and deep mortar lines between the bricks. I prefer to have primed the wall opaque with the hollow spaces filled in, but it would have taken a couple more days just to do that part. I decided that aerosol would not be the medium of choice for this task and using latex paint and a roller with a very long extension pole would be the suitable materials.

After the wall was ‘buffed’, I outlined the colossal male reclining figure with a 4″ roller. I chose to illustrate what I always advocate, fine art on walls. The subject matter I painted is a traditional pose done in a not-so-traditional approach. I used an image I found in my sketchbook from a figure drawing class I sat in on. This pose clearly projects what I wanted to express to the public. In two days time I completed the mural, working around and on top of mounds of rubble.

Using rollers was a new experience for me. At first I was feeling a bit out of my comfort zone but not for long. I really enjoyed painting with buckets of paint and not needing a respirator was a plus. I plan on incorporating more of the roller paint method into future walls. You can see the mural from the corner of Union Ave. and Borinquen Place. Thanks to the neighborhood residents for their good-energy support and a special thanks to Dariel Mtz, curator and organizer who spearheads these mural projects brought to the public by NY Street Gallery.