
Salt Lake Building Gets Mural Makeover
November 16, 2009, By Anne Forester,
SALT LAKE CITY -- Over the weekend two artists began spray painting the side of an old downtown Salt Lake City building. It's not vandalism, but a work of art. When it's done, a religious mural will grace the side of the building.
The side of the building at 160 E. 200 South is getting a face-lift. The wall was once covered by the old Gutherie sign, now something new covers the aged bricks.
"In the beginning a lot of people don't know what we're doing. Are we doing vandalism? Graffiti? They see the spray paint," says artist Retna.
Two artists, El Mac and Retna, are creating a mural of the Virgin Mary in their own style.
"It's kind of done in a modern way. Hopefully people--a lot of people--can enjoy it from all different backgrounds," Retna says.
It takes more than 80 cans of spray and acrylic paint to bring to life the artists' detailed vision. Surrounding the Virgin Mary are words in Latin.
"It's actually the Hail Mary, but it's just done in the Latin version, so it says Ava Maria," Retna explains.
The two artists haven't always created religious artwork; one artist started off a little bit differently.
"[I] started off doing graffiti, tagging, all the stuff you do as a rebellious youth," Retna says.
He says he always kept his eye on doing something more than just graffiti. He wanted to do work that had meaning.
The owner of Fice Gallery and Urban Boutique, Cory Bullough, hopes the mural will be a landmark piece for the city.
"Pretty much everybody who walks by stops for a couple minutes and tells us that it's looking good. It's not even halfway there, so it's coming along," Bullough says.
The artists say it's their way of giving back. They hope people in Salt Lake don't find it controversial, but instead enjoy the mural.



Layout + Design by / Arrango Designs

Find out more at: DigitalRetna.com . ElMac.net . RobertBermanGallery.com
Find out more at: DigitalRetna.com, ElMac.net and YuriHasegawa.com

Notable participating artists have included Augor, Bask, Blek Le Rat, Boxi, David Choe, Crome, Cycle, Michael De
Feo, Dare, Depoe, Dolla, Ellis G, El Mac, Ewok, Frerk, Logan Hicks, Andy Howell, Kofie, Lady Pink, The London
Police, MSG, Kenton Parker, Retna, Revok, Reyes, Risk, Santiago Rubino, She Kills He, Chris Stain, TCP, Tes One,
Typoe, WK Interact, Marc C. Woehr and Agustina Woodgate. Primary Flight is a launch pad for some Street Artists,
and a homecoming for others, such as Shepherd Fairey and Ron English, both of whom transitioned from Street Art
to the Fine Art arena.
Find out more at: primaryflight.com
This month will be a little different than others. We will be having multiple TSDPs from different artists being released randomly. This is the first of many videos and coverage from CLASH OF THE TITANS, an event in Australia organized by the one and only REVOK of The World Famous Seventh Letter Crew. Special thanks to: Willie T, Good Times Media, Rev Barnes, REVOK1.com, Risky for the amazing studio, Janae at Teasemarketing.com, Ironlak Paint and everybody putting in those 40-50 hour shifts on this project.
Find out more at: DigitalRetna.com, ElMac.net and YuriHasegawa.com
Find out more at: DigitalRetna.com, ElMac.net and YuriHasegawa.com
Retna & The Mac "Vagos y Reinas"
The exhibition is on view at the Robert Berman Gallery until October 18th, 2009
Robert Berman Gallery
Bergamot Station Arts Center
2525 Michigan Ave, C2/D5
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Hours / Tuesday - Saturday, 11 to 6 p.m
Inquiries / berman@artnet.net
Photo Credit : Daniel Locascio



















































































































































































