Odysseus

Aerosol on Brick. 10' x 16'. CONC Back Alley.

Artists: Javid, AJ, Spencer, Roxanne

Dates: Sep 10 Design Approved. Completed by Sep 20 2007.

The landlord of the building requested a mural celebrating his Greek heritage. We complied, and submitted a design capturing the moment of return from the story of the Greek warrior, Odysseus.

The owners had already attempted to clean up the vandalized wall but it was tagged soon after.

We primed with a grey color with the intent of creating a Panthenon-like background for the piece.

We started sketching the design immediately, unconventionally working from foreground to background.

The mural took form pretty fast, and local residents and park-goers expressed interest immediately. We did encounter positive criticism about the proportions of the male to female, which apparently implied male dominance despite the fact that in the design, Odysseus is a portrayed as the larger, formidable character compared to Penelope.

Responding to this criticism, we reduced the scale of Odysseus so that it was more on par with Penelope, and we also brought the purple linen over his mid-section since we received comments about the fact that the male was naked and the female was not.

In the end, everyone was pleased with the mural and it serves as another prime example of the diversity of style and product that defines our mural team.

ja.1n.us 2007