SPREADING POSITIVITY
Evan Rast works on a mural on the boarded up exterior of the defunct Army & Navy department store on Whyte Avenue. Rast is one of two artists contracted to cover the approximately 90-foot long and 10-foot high front facade of the building.
Rain is no friend to the muralist — yet despite the weather, two new walls of public art are going up fast this week: Pete Nguyen’s giant skull on the side of the Commercial Hotel, and a series of painted rap lyrics on the window boards of the now-defunct Army & Navy store, art by Edmonton’s AJA Louden and Evan Rast.
With upbeat messages all around, the two works are in a physical and philosophical line with Jill Stanton’s stealthily deployed and beautiful Green Wall mural at the old CIBC in the alley between The Black Dog and The Buckingham, making the stretch of Whyte Avenue between 105 Street and Gateway Boulevard a legitimate outdoor art gallery.
This is especially true as just a hop away sits a different mural by Stanton on the east face of Varscona Theatre, yet another by Luke Ramsay on the theatre’s west side, and major works by international artists Cleon Peterson and Okuda across from the Old Strathcona Farmers Market looming just to the east.
Nguyen has been working on his towering party skull on the Commercial at 10329 82 Ave. for a few weeks, pausing frequently in deference to the interrupting rain and thundershowers.
“We’ve been at it for three weeks, but really only a few days of getting it done,” he explains.
The full height of the three-storey hotel is his biggest work “by far.”
“It looks big, but it’s even bigger. When I take this lift up there, that D is almost twice my height. We ran out of paint almost every day.”
Something of a renaissance man, Nguyen is a partner in the local Sea Change Brewing as well as its brand director. He’s just a little more hands-on than your typical designer, actually covered in paint, working the Commercial’s brick wall with help from brewery staff, who helped fill in his spray-paint outlines.
“They just wanted to do something cool, they’re building a big deck out here, and as Sea Change we’re going to throw some parties on here.”
The gargantuan skull is wearing a skateboard helmet with X’d eyes, mouth open under the chipper phrase “crush beers not dreams.”
“It is a message … about drinking beer,” Nguyen says with a laugh. “It’s very Santa Cruz skateboard colours.”
Nguyen has also done walls at Woodshed Burgers, a noodle dragon inside Nudoru Ramen Bar and a wall at Print Machine and he’s quite happy to drop his art into the neighbourhood’s growing mural maze. “There’s a lot of stuff going on, it’s great.”
As Stanton hears Louden and Rast are working the empty boards, she says, “Oh sweet! I was hoping someone would get to those Army & Navy panels.”
She technically finished her wall in the fall, but the new murals down the street shine extra light on it as being part of an organic series.
A series of abstract plants, one of the most striking features is how Stanton let the brick show through instead of painting it brown.
“I wanted to let the brick come through because it’s such a great old texture, with history.”
She also notes her concept and name for it — Green Wall — is a wink to the fact it was a cash bank for decades.
Finally, just down the street, Rast is putting the finishing touches on his collab parlour wall.
Rast explains, “We just shot the idea of putting positive lyrics from hip-hop songs, and ran from there with imagery. We’re not pointing it in any specific direction, but coming out of COVID and a lot of the tension out there, we’re trying to help break it down.
“It drizzled on us a bit, but spray paint sticks pretty good. It’s got to be one of the busiest intersections in the city, and reaction has been overwhelming positive.
“It’s cool to get this kind of shine for a bit.”
The mural also contains a thank you to A&N for 101 years of service on the spot.
Edgar Development reached out to the artists with an assist from the Old Strathcona Business Association, and Louden and Rast’s new work joins paintings and graffiti writing in the back alley by the two as well as Flur, Curly YIA and Big Daddy Kame.
Louden’s favourite message on the front wall reads: “I know I can be what I wanna be,” a tribute to Nas.
“Sometimes I worry that our youth are getting the message that the world is stacked against them,” says Louden. “Things won’t always be easy — but there is always hope. Keep an eye on your dreams, stay focused on what is meaningful, and work together to make something happen.”