CONVERSE MUSIC MURAL

CONVERSE MUSIC GRASSROOTS BANDS & MURAL ART!

Converse Music Series! The Rubber tracks program is an interesting project in which Converse promotes grassroots music and art through a series of recording sessions and live performances all across North America. The bands are selected through a juried competition and the winners are provided free studio time in a professional environment. To highlight the musical recordings and concert events artists are also hired to create murals and large scale backdrops for the stage and studio. For each different city a local artist was chosen and I was fortunate enough to be picked for the Toronto sessions.

For my mural I decided to go with my symbolic city of gears imagery. In this drawing the buildings circle around the edge of the canvas in the shape of a giant gear or cog wheel while the center is filled with a vast array of strange characters mixing and morphing into one another. The concept is quite simple, the city is like the machine but it is up to all the crazy people moving through it to set it into motion. The reason why the faces blending into each other ( for example one persons right eye might become his neighbour's left and so on) is to represent our collective existence exemplifying the notion that all of our actions effect everyone and everything around us. Although we are all unique individuals we are intrinsically interconnected with one another and the entity we call the city. This is a really important icon in the “Hey Apathy!” mythology and something I believe can be universally understood so I thought it was ideal for the Rubber Tracks backdrop.

Although I am generally not interested, or at the very least indifferent, to working for corporate sponsors I was very impressed with the program and the way I was treated. First of all the artists and musicians, while undoubtedly helping to promote Converse Grassroots image, are gaining a lot more exposure than they are giving. Most of the bands are small label or unknown and the opportunity to record for free and share their work internationally is incredible. Secondly the musicians and artists retain the rights to their work and very few limitations were put on the creations (basically they asked for no explicit sexual images or any “dead babies” both of which are totally reasonable requests for public art. Retaining copyright control and artistic freedom is really rare when you are dealing with major companies. Read more about Converse Music here!

In addition to these obvious advantages I was also really pleased to be treated fairly and paid properly. I don't know how many times corporate headhunters have approached me looking for an artist to underpay and exploit. A number of major companies have even tried offering hourly wages based on a house painters quotes because they saw how quick I was at painting murals. At any rate this was not the case with Converse and I was happy to be treated honestly and with respect as a professional. I was really impressed with the program and the entire experience. Band Photos courtesy of Aesthetic Magazine Toronto

MURAL IDEAS

OUTDOOR WALL MURALS

MURAL DRAWINGS