Carlsbad Art Wall

Take days and make a painting.. put your heart and soul into it, knowing that it’ll be painted over in two months.  

This is the concept of the Carlsbad Art Wall.

I’ve been on the waitlist for two years for my shot at this wall.  Ever since I moved to Carlsbad from Fallbrook I’ve had my eye on this rotating art wall of Senor Grubby’s that sits at the heart of the village on Carlsbad Village Drive, two blocks from the beach in my nice beach community in North County San Diego, CA.

Local artist Bryan Snyder started this project seven years ago.  He wanted to showcase different artistic talent from the local and not so local areas, and bring it to his hometown community.  At that point Bryan was making murals and street art, but was ahead of his time here.  He got a lot of pushback because murals hadn’t yet become a mainstream concept.  Back then lots of people just thought of it as graffiti, as ugly.  Bryan would bring artists from Los Angeles and San Diego to come and do something beautiful.  So every year, that’s six murals; over seven years, forty two unique paintings created and then painted over.

There are two rules.  Nothing political, and nothing religious.  From there it’s up to the artist.  I chose to go with the concept that I’m really interested in these days which is “Flow State.”  It’s that state of being where the individual is “in the zone.”  We all experience this in our own way.  That’s the beauty of it.  It’s one of the best parts of being alive in my opinion.  My mural shows people surfing, a woman painting, Carlos Santana playing the guitar, a woman meditating on the beach, and then behind it all is the eyes of Kobe Bryant in full Mamba Mentality.

The painting was so much fun to do.  It’s a main street on the way to the beach so people saw the whole process, start to finish.  It took two and a half days to complete.  People would stop and watch, ask questions, offer their opinions.  It was awesome.

The concept of creating a work of art that will be painted over in two months is kind of a trip.  I feel that it speaks to the concept of presence without attachment.  Some would say that life is a balance between giving 100% to whatever one does, while not being attached to the outcome.  From the Buddhist perspective, attachment leads to suffering.  If I am attached to this painting, when it gets painted over, I will suffer.  But the answer isn’t to not care and not try as hard to save myself the loss, because if I don’t care, then I won’t bring my best to the artwork and the artwork won’t be the best expression of my work.  

So the answer is balance.  Just like in life….
My painting “Flow State” will be on the wall for another month and a half, through the middle of June.  You can view it in person, on my Instagram feed or in this Coast News article link.