(shaking canister)
(paint spraying)
When I was young
in the '90s and early 2000s,
there was no exceptions for
art being produced with spray paint.
So now I get a lot of people
coming up saying, "Wow, you're doing all
that with spray paint?"
Woah, you know,
whereas before
it might have been, "Call
the cops on that guy, he's
got to spray paint in his hand."
(shaking canister)
(spraying paint)
I'm Desmond Hansen.
I'm an artist from West Seattle, and I
paint murals.
♪♪
Covering large
scale areas with spray paint.
I just want to paint.
I really like painting
portraits, aerosol art,
painting art with spray paint,
attempting photo realism.
♪♪
In 2018,
I started painting signal box murals.
And over the course of the past
four years, painting about 65 of them.
It actually came to me in a dream
that I had painted
a couple of them on California Avenue
in West Seattle.
It just looks like a stationary canvas,
and that's why
there's graffiti on them all the time.
When I had that thought,
it made me think of,
"Well, who would I paint?"
And so I started the list
(paint spraying)
people who
I think deserve a spotlight,
that kind of influenced me as a kid.
This is J. Moore. This is
an old
friend of mine who was a DJ
and hosted a lot of hip hop battles.
The ones that I did here
in the Central District,
they were all chosen by the HCAACD
They commissioned me to do eight boxes.
I get my permits through the SDOT.
The art that I do on these boxes tends
to cut down on vandalism.
♪♪
A lot of the boxes
that I've painted
are from grunge era rock and roll.
Eddie Vedder
and Chris Cornell and Layne Staley.
Kurt Cobain. Painted some others.
Mark Hubbard.
Bruce Lee.
Randy Hansen.
Prince. Macklemore.
♪♪
Jimi Hendrix.
Jimi Hendrix blocks is my favorite.
I can say that confidently
because it was the first one that I did.
-Art makes the world go around.
It's not graffiti.
It's beautiful.
He's talented.
-Most of them are in West Seattle.
Eleven of them are in the Central District.
Four in Queen Anne.
There's some in Capitol Hill.
And SoDo has a couple.
J. Moore was
a good guy.
♪♪
I painted quite a bit of them enough
now where they're getting some vandalism
and some weathering.
Now through spring and summer,
I'm touching all of them up.
Ultimately, what motivates me to paint is
I want to leave a piece of me
on the planet.
No one's guaranteed tomorrow.
♪♪
When I add to the city's beauty
or people
being able to walk around
and experience art.
-Yeah. Thank you, man.
I like your vision, man.
-You're doing a wonderful job.
-Thank you. Thanks.
Appreciate that.
♪♪
-You've got a gift.
If you got a gifted hand.
It feels good
knowing that
it's in most intersections.
(car horn honking)
Maybe brighten up somebody's day,
I hope it takes them away
from any boredom
and monotony that they're feeling in life
at that time, you know?
And hopefully,
you know, whoever I painted a portrait of
might take them into a
a thought process of
who is this person and what do they do?
I've had people
send me messages
saying that they're
listening on the radio
and they're at an intersection
and a song came on and they were all,
you know, amazed by
that.
-It's incredible.
Wow.
You're so talented.
It's so beautiful.
-Thank you, thank you!
I do something artistically
to try to further my path
in the art world.
♪♪
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