Editor’s note: Local journalist/creepy uncle who ruins Thanksgiving Mark Holmberg wrote an OpEd for the Times-Dispatch saying the Richmond Mural Project and other local murals “send an ugly message.”



Editor’s note: Local journalist/creepy uncle who ruins Thanksgiving Mark Holmberg wrote an OpEd for the Times-Dispatch saying the Richmond Mural Project and other local murals “send an ugly message.”

We reached out to Nils Westergard, a local muralist who travels the world performing his craft, and ask for him to respond. Sure enough he beat us to the punch and wrote the words below. Check out his words below (added points by me are in italics, and stay tuned as RMP 2016 kicks off in a few weeks.

And if you want to give Nils a wall, hit him up through his website. He’s always down to paint.

———–

So. I’m a muralist. I’m local; so far, the only one to paint in the RMP (Richmond Muralist Jacob Eveland will paint for this year’s event). My work certainly isn’t sunshine and flowers. But I’m proud to call Richmond home and base my self here.

The majority of the work I do is in Europe because the US simply is not as easy to paint in.

When I tour in the summer, people know Richmond because of our murals and the international elite that have worked on them.

I certainly don’t feel offended by any of these walls. There are some I dont like, but I still prefer it to the millions of square feet of bare brick and slimy siding we have.

I recognize that I have a heavy bias in this matter, but in my experience anything you paint will offend someone.

Too often it seems people are looking to be offended, too many of my hooded figures are assumed to be Trayvon Martin- which is ludicrous (they’re mainly white and women.) Are we going to limit ourselves to painting cardinals and smiling faces? Are we deciding as a city that we can’t handle a nude woman because it makes us feel something dark?

I like sunny days, but I appreciate the rain. Ekundayo’s piece (seen below and mentioned directly in Holmberg’s write up), with the colorful dying man gazing upward as mushrooms return him to the earth- is that really more violent and offensive than a crucified, bleeding, Jesus?

"The Fear of the unknown is nothing to be afraid of" full shot #richmondmuralproject A photo posted by Ekundayo (@sorrowbecomesjoy) on Jun 27, 2014 at 4:02pm PDT

Personally I view public art as the antithesis of advertisement. The article claims signage/ads have to go through a city process, and while thats true- its mainly just to dictate size and placement. The rotating images on billboards that pepper the city are ugly to me, they offend me, and I would argue are morally wrong- infecting public space in at attempt to get your wallet out. But these murals, even if you find them ugly, are only trying to make you feel or question something.

I understand the desire to have public input on the walls (although personally I disagree) but only if public money is being spent on them. Which, as many of us working here know, is not the case… yet.

ArtWhino, who organizes the RMP with RVAMag, gets sponsors to fund their project. The RVA Street Art Festival similarly works with local businesses large and small to give Richmond muralists a chance to have their work displayed.

I generally pay for all my paint myself or work out a deal with the owner.

Every mural in the city is liked by some and disliked by others. If we would want to avoid offending people, we would have no murals. But that is not the city I want to live in.