A Few Questions with Welcoming Walls artist Andre Shank
What made you want to take part in Welcoming Walls?
It doesn't take much to motivate me to paint something big and outside. But with Welcoming Walls it was really about getting to know Mickael [Broth] and watching WW grow from an idea to a real project. So many people talk and talk about their great ideas and it's rare to see someone follow through. Watching Mickael grind it out was cool and what an honor to be chosen for the first one. There was no hesitation on my involvement. I'm stoked to continue to watch it grow, it's such a great idea, and not just for Richmond, it's a model that could be adapted to any city. It's all about transforming the world around you and being actively involved in how public spaces are decorated.
How was the experience painting the first wall with Chris Milk?
I have collaborated with a lot of different artists on murals and each collaboration brings its own unique flavor and quirks. While I haven't had a bad collaboration, working with Chris was definitely one of the best. Honestly it was pretty wild, we spoke very little and were communicating through our imagery on the walls. We seemlessly and wordlessly bounced around and painted in each other's hand and style. It was a really special experience. I would work with Chris again in a heartbeat. Also our styles meshed really well. Overall is was a really good time.
Did you guys meet anyone cool while working on the piece?
We did meet some cool people while painting. Some local some traveling. The response was very positive. In particular one local resident brought us beer and wings just as we were finishing up. He just wanted to say thanks. Troy from north side, if you're reading this, thank you! Hard to beat beer and wings.
You often include the word Horus in your paintings/murals and reference imagery from ancient cultures. What's that all about?
Horus was an Egyptian deity, typically represented by the falcon headed guy with a Sun disk above his head. I usually depict it as a disk above a head with Horus, Horace, or not Horus written inside the circle. It doesn't hold any solid or specific meaning for me, I mainly use it solely as a visual agent, but I guess it could elude to our shared humanity and that whether you like it or not we are the people of the Sun, life revolves around it and rarely exists without it. I've always held an interest in history. History blows my mind and I love learning about it and what life was like in different time periods. It's pretty wild to imagine life in a world without technology, where your job is surviving. It makes you think about how different your goals would be, it's just crazy really. And what a unique time we live in! Instant global communication, and yet humanity is more disconnected now than ever before. I guess I'm drawn to the imagery of ancient cultures because it was used as so much more than what we call art. It was used to tell specific stories and to record what was going on. Their imagery had an importance that we no longer have a need for. And it looks cool.
The surface you guys painted on for this project was raw concrete; do you have a favorite type of wall to paint?
It's easier to list surfaces I don't like to paint. Raw concrete is definitely one of my favorites. Brick and block are probably my least favorite, especially when you have deep grout joints or crumbly or mossy material. Don't get me wrong, I'll paint it all without thinking twice but all surfaces are not created equal. The smoother and denser the wall the better.
Do you feel like the mural is having the intended impact so far?
This is a difficult question to answer. Judging from the reaction of the people who stopped by while we were there I'd say yes. But that is a very hard question to confidently answer. WW should kick the corner bum some dollars to survey passersby for a day or two and see what the public thinks.
You've painted a bunch of Benny's pizza restaurants. What's their best slice in your opinion and when can we expect one in Richmond?
Benny's is a great example of a company specializing in a simple idea and doing it really well. They serve pizza, by the slice or the pie in four flavors, cheese, pepperoni, and two specials. All jumbo sized new York style thin crust. One of their slices is equivalent to three large pieces of typical pizza, in fact their pizza is so big they have special over-sized doors installed at each location so you can walk out with a full pizza box held flat. I go with the plain cheese and hit it with a good dose of crushed red pepper. I'm a pizza guy and they make a great product.
They've been eyeballing Richmond for some time now but haven't found the right location. Right now the closest is Fredricksburg. Honestly it's worth the 45 min drive but I will be very happy once they open in rva. Happy and fat.
What do you have lined up for 2015?
2015 is looking pretty good. So I really started painting in the latter half of 2012 so '13 was my first full year. That first year I concentrated on making as many paintings as possible. Toward the end of '13 I participated in the RVA street art fest and painted my first murals. I flat out fell in love with mural painting and that was my concentration for 2014. I'm really proud of what I accomplished, I hit the goals I had set and ended up painting 15 murals. I caught some lucky breaks and ended up in the right place at the right time on more than one occasion. So for 2015 I have freed up more time to concentrate on both. The last two years I have held a full time job and painted in my free time. This year I have dropped the full time job and will be putting quality time into painting. I'm really excited about it. I have a new set of goals to hit and a lot to work on. I've got more Benny's coming up, some other restaurant work, a project with the city of Harrisonburg potentially, plenty of personal projects and hopefully more with Welcoming Walls. I'm definitely excited, as a fan, to see what Mickael has planned for the future of Welcoming Walls.
To see more of Andre Shank's work, visit his website at http://thebombproof.blogspot.com/
Welcoming Walls Project One artist, Andre Shank aka BMBPRF and Welcoming Walls founder, Mickael Broth aka The NightOwl, collaborated on a mural in Charlotte NC recently. The process was documented by the incredibly talented Paul Somers in this video.
