BETWEENTHETREES

September 2009 56th Street Mural Project “56 String Movement” completed.

This is a video made by Michael Jacobsohn combining the “56th Street Movement” mural by Christopher Kull and the Sculpture Garden by David Scalza. You can also see the video here http://minidocs.com/magic/ with additional info.
My voice is a bit odd in the video.

Below are the final images of the far left and far right ends of the mural not included in the video.

For many more pics of this mural click on W56th Mural Gallery.
For interest in commissioning a mural, please email me sirhclluk[at]mac[dot]com or use the comment area below.

• LOCATION & SITE: W 56th Street Manhattan NY, between 9th and 10th avenues. 135′ long x 11′ tall. Back side of 57th Street Holiday Inn.
• PERSONNEL: Project Coordinator, David Scalza, joyvidadas@gmail.com. Project Lead Artist, Christopher Kull, sirhclluk@mac.com. Filmmaker, Michael Jacobsohn, mjacobs2008@gmail.com. Additional production help from the neighborhood.
• APPROVAL: Location approved by, 57th St Holiday Inn, Joe Cecala, Hotel Manager. Galaxy images approved by, STScI, Space Telescope Science Institute, Hubblesite.org
• SUPPORT: This began as an unpaid volunteer project. In ‘08 David Scalza, Project Coordinator and Christopher Kull, Lead Artist, applied for a grant from the LMCC Lower Manhattan Cultural Councils’ MCAF Manhattan Community Arts Fund. We received a $2,400 grant in ‘09 from LMCC for this project.
  

  “West 56th Mural Project Is made possible in part with public funds from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.”

  • Funding for mural supplies and opening day food/drinks, 57th St Holiday Inn, $1,000 from Joe Cecala, Hotel Manager.

Brief Project Timeline
I started working on a 6 foot wide concept painting for this mural project June 2008. September 2008 I started painting the 135 foot long mural and also applied for the LMCC MCAF grant. I stopped painting before the Winter and resumed the project Summer 2009. February 2009 the project was awarded the LMCC MCAF grant for $2,400 towards supplies. September 2009 the project was completed with an art opening held for it 9/19/09.
What is the image in the mural about?
I titled it 56 String Movement combining influences from String Theory, String/Sound Movement and 56th Street. The two main elements in the mural are a Double Bass Instrument and Space. The left end of the mural is land that started out mimicking the shape of Manhattan Island, but became the body of the Bass instrument. The Bass strings stretch over the bridge of the bass/land and start to spread out and wave in space similar to sound waves or the vibrating strings in string theory. In the far right end of the mural the background started as a Hubble telescope image, but developed into a mass of impressionist marks and color vibrations. Within this mass of colors the strings meet up with the Head of the Bass instrument. The Bass Head also doubles as a boat with tuners/oars potentially used to maneuver around the waters of Manhattan Island or in space. The Sail elements on the land/bass body are meant to be a bit mysterious. The images above the Bass and around the 9 foot Earth are the Milky Way Galaxy, Star Clusters, and a Supernova Remnant taken by the Hubble telescope and used with permission from STScI. The people in the mural live or work on that block of 56th street in Manhattan, NY.