The Unexpected project unveils two new murals in downtown Fort Smith

A new mural by Brazilian artist Bicicleta Sem Freio as part of The Unexpected Project shown May 18 in downtown Fort Smith.
(River Valley Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)
A new mural by Brazilian artist Bicicleta Sem Freio as part of The Unexpected Project shown May 18 in downtown Fort Smith. (River Valley Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)

FORT SMITH -- The city has gotten more colorful recently with the completion of two new murals downtown.

Fayetteville artist Jason Jones and Brazilian artist Bicicleta Sem Freio visited Fort Smith last month to add to the more than 30 murals that are part of The Unexpected project by 64.6 Downtown.

64.6 Downtown is a nonprofit group focusing on developing and diversing commerce through vibrant spaces in downtown Fort Smith including business development, arts and culture, special events and projects.

Talicia Richardson, executive director of 64.6, said The Unexpected project started in 2014 as a way to bring something unexpected to downtown because the city was at a crossroads regarding economic development.

"The desire was to try to see what we could do to infuse something unique and different to our area, and it just so happened to be creative place-making," Richardson said. "And with the idea of creative place-making, it is an opportunity to create a space that is underutilized or is vacant, blighted, and looking for opportunities to turn it into something that is economically viable for an area."

Richardson said the project is all privately funded and has expanded to working with curating organizations to help line up artists.

Other murals downtown have been completed by highly sought-after international artists such as D*Face, Ana Maria, Askew, Okuda San Miguel, Bordalo II, Maser and Hoxxoh.

Richardson said. "We are not anticipating any future Unexpected projects, we just want to maintain the existing portfolio of works within our community."

Jones has been a mural artist for over 20 years and has volunteered to help paint The Unexpected murals since its second year of operation. He said it's very special for him to have his own piece displayed at 412 Towson Ave. alongside the big-name artists he's worked with.

"The piece I did for the Unexpected, the wall had a lot of windows and doors, so it was kind of a complicated surface," Jones said. "I started doing a lot of sketches, and I was afraid the angles and all of that would look awkward with all of the insets and the windows, so basically just scrapped everything I was drawing and just decided to use the windows, since they're boarded over."

The piece involves a robot shooting a laser at a long-limbed alien as it's crawling through a window.

Jones said he was inspired by the recent interest in artificial intelligence, but the piece itself has no particular meaning behind it.

"Really the meaning is open," he said. "I like to hear what the community and kids come up with."

"He knew the canvas," Richardson said. "It was great to have a regional artist engaged in the process because it just brings things back home for 64.6 Downtown."

"Having The Unexpected come in has really kicked open the door and educated so many people about public art and these festivals that are happening on a global scale," Jones said. "It's been wonderful having that part of the community, and I'm really grateful for it."

The second new mural, completed by Sem Freio, is titled "The Fastest Banjo in Town" and covers his previous 5,200-square-foot mural on the 800 block of Garrison Avenue.

Sem Freio's website describes the piece as a dream-like scene where a cowboy with a wolf/dog face skillfully plays the banjo, and "celebrates the artistic energy reminding us of the important aspects of happiness, nature, harmony and creativity."

"This city has embraced us with open arms in 2015 and holds a special place in our hearts," Sem Freio said. "Music always takes center stage in our art, so this time around we painted a banjo player just chilling in his cowboy boots. We wanted to capture the free-spirited nature that music brings. As for the creature's identity, is it a dog or a wolf? Well, we intentionally leave that open to the wonderful people of Fort Smith to guess. We like leaving a bit of mystery and interpretation."

A full map of mural locations is available at unexpetedfs.com.

  photo  Bicicleta Sem Freio, a Brazilian artist, and assistants work on a new mural April 23 as part of the nonprofit 64.6 Downtowns free and accessible art project called The Unexpected in downtown Fort Smith. The new large-scale painting will cover an original mural by Freio called "Catira" that was created along Garrison Avenue in 2015. Both works were curated by Justkids, which provides production services for public art. Muralist Jason Jones is also painting a new Unexpected mural on nearby Towson Avenue. More information about the project is available at unexpectedfs.com. Visit nwaonline.com/photo for today's photo gallery. (River Valley Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)
 
 

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