ASU student artist ‘Clyde’ shares his vision of Arizona with the local community through graffiti art. (Photo by Olivia Richard)
It’s early in Arizona, the sun is up, people are out and the canvas is ripe for the taking. His hands begin to twitch with great temptation, but the stakes are even higher. With one last look over his shoulder, Clyde takes out his cans, brushes and paints and begins.
He must be quick, he must be perfect, there are no do overs — one shot is all he gets. Then he hears the echo of police sirens, the panic sets in and his heart races. Is this it? Will he be arrested? As they pass, a wave of relief washes over Clyde. They are looking for someone, but for today at least, it is not him.
Picking up paints for the first time just two years ago while taking classes at Mesa Community College, ASU student Clyde found that through his art he could breathe life and color into the monotone Tempe community in which he grew up. Clyde gave only a pseudonym because some of his methods may be questionable.
“Basically, I’ve never been one to sit down and draw stuff out. I wanted to go big from the start,” Clyde remembers.
It’s a case of when Heaven meets Earth in the piece ‘Woman in a Dream’ as she watches over the residents of a downtown Tempe apartment building. (Photo by Olivia Richard)When it comes to design, flow plays a crucial role in the concept and inspiration behind his pieces. Rather than viewing the building as a convenient canvas he approaches every building with a conceptually open mind. Inspired by everyday architecture, Clyde seeks to capture and accentuate the mood of the building, community and moment in his art.
“It’s always a struggle to get a piece done without getting caught,” Clyde said. Police, building owners and even passersby all pose a threat.
“Even if you do finish, there is no guarantee it will stay up,” he said.
Uncertainty and vulnerability are feelings with which Clyde is all too familiar. During the creation of “Woman in a Dream,” his most recent mural, he was confronted by the owner of the Tempe University Inn & Suites with brush and bucket in hand.
“I had to talk him into letting me finish it by promising to paint over it later,” he said.
However, now that the mural is completed, neither Clyde nor community members like 64-year-old Rosaria Barrera are eager for the whimsical woman to be covered.
“When the cuardo (painting) appeared it made me happy," Barrera said. "It reminds me of the paredes de las artes (walls of the arts) back home in Mexico. I wish for it to stay."
Barrera is not the only community member who has fallen in love with Clyde’s piece.
“She is an angel who watches us from heaven,” said Ricardo Pedroza, 9.
While many of his are on canvases of opportunity some are commissioned pieces as is the case with this mural ‘Generation Contemplation' created for the wall of Keep Screaming Skate Shop in downtown Phoenix. (Photo by Olivia Richard)The resounding wish of the community is that the piece stay. Even former residents like Martha Avelar, 32, want the painting to remain.
“She is a reflection of the community, the people and the culture of Tempe," she said. "She is all of us."
Although many of Clyde's pieces are un-commissioned acts of impulse and inspiration, a few have been commissioned.
“It’s a bit strange, because you have to paint many walls without permission before someone is willing to just give you a two-story building or a wall inside,” Clyde said.
But even having commissioned murals and graffiti portraits, it’s the outdoor pieces of impulse that most satisfy and inspire him.
Clyde’s mural, dubbed “Woman in a Dream” by the community, still stands and can be found on the ally sidewall of the University Inn & Suites on Mill Avenue in Tempe.
Reach the reporter at oprichar@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @OliviaRichard1
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