By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
Osoyoos has another stunning piece of public art with Mavik Robinson (who simply goes by “Mavik”) once again wielding his spray cans to create a scene from a picturesque Greek village on the Diamond Steak & Seafood House at 8903 Main St.
“Gus and Maria [Tsigonias] wanted their background from Greece and the feel of walking through the village and the beauty of the area and to bring it here and show that area, that part of the world,” Mavik explains. “It’s so deeply impactful and part of their history and who they are. It’s a beautiful place, and I’m super excited to be able to do my best to bring it here and show their background and what they envisioned, what they wanted.”
Once he had their brief and reference photos of what they were looking for, certain colours etc and he went to work researching.
Like every wall he works on, this one had its eccentricities and challenges. Of course the challenge was made even greater for Mavik because he doesn’t typically do this kind of villagescape. “There’s a full door that I turned into a gate,” he begins his description, with obvious satisfaction.
“I used my creative mind to make this work and create the illusion,” he says of a vine-covered passageway leading to a gate in the distance, which appears in what is in reality a large wall with a door in it. All the more impressive considering he doesn’t normally paint this type of perspective.
“This is definitely stepping outside my box of what I usually do, like landscapes and perspective, cities, buildings, things like that. It’s super new for me and I’m just figuring it out as I go,” he laughs.
“Obviously I do my research. Everything is self taught, and part of the process is teaching myself how to create this perspective.” Clearly he’s a good self-teacher as one would never guess this latest mural involves techniques he’s only just learned.
“Every day is a learning day, every day life is beautiful,” says the vastly talented and perennially upbeat local tattoo artist and wall muralist whose public artwork can be found all over Osoyoos. “We’re just blessed to be here, to live in such a beautiful place, and to interact with beautiful people and share the love of the divine creator that we all carry within us.”
A little piece of Greece on Main St. Osoyoos.
One thing that’s different this time is the fact the mural is not just on the front side of a building (normally its the side or rear of the buildings that form the canvas) but it’s prominently located on Main St. You can’t ask for better advertising than this and in fact he’s had four or five inquiries for murals.
Mavik started last week and was planning on wrapping it up before the weekend. He says it took a bit longer because of working on Main St, as passersby kept stopping to chat. “I lose my creative flow state” he laughs. He also took breaks from the mural because he does after all, have a day job creating tattoo art at Art Therapy Corp.
Truth be told Mavik doesn’t mind the disruptions. “I love interacting. It’s so beautiful to be able to just take the time to have conversations, especially around this,” he says gesturing to the mural.
He says that while people are interested in having murals created, “cost of course is always a factor. It all comes down to timing, budget, all that kind of stuff. No one really understands the price that a lot of people pay for murals. Art isn’t cheap, unfortunately,” he observes.
The amount of time and energy and materials that go into it can get expensive, depending on the square footage of the wall. The cost he says is roughly $15 per sq. ft. depending on the design, plus materials. “I try to kind of bulk it into one,” he says.
“I try to be reasonable, I’m not trying to steal and take advantage. I’m just trying to survive,” he says, adding that the fundamental point for him is to “give everything I can into creating a beautiful piece that they’re asking for”. On that point it would be difficult to conclude he’s done anything but succeed.
