Kurt Cobain could give a shit about Nagle Place. And walls? Walls change.
“Walls rotate. And if you’ve been in the game long enough, you’ve seen it happen to your own walls,” muralist and street artist Weirdo tells CHS.
You’ve seen his “hyper-real” Weirdocult works all over the Hill, most prominently on the side of Neumos where a regular rotation of new works hype the latest big music release or, recently, new kits for the Seattle Sounders.
The murals are his business and this kind of street work is a growing industry for influencers and marketing. They’re not strictly advertising. To stay clear of the city’s rules about off premise advertising — remember this legendary 12th and Pine ad space? — the depictions don’t include overt commercial messaging and involve imagery and subjects related to the building and the community. The paintings, in the end, become statements and part of the colorful background of Pike/Pine and Broadway.
Mostly, Weirdo’s murals are celebrated for their mix of intense, beyond real colors, and photorealistic depictions of his subjects. Weirdo’s latest work is being wrapped up on one of the newer canvases in the Capitol Hill wall space on the backside of the Hunters Capital-developed Broadway Building, along Nagle Place, facing the popular and usually bustling Cal Anderson skate and sport courts. Continue reading →
Last summer, the replacement of a Nagle Place mural of Kurt Cobain sparked a wave of nostalgia for a Capitol Hill that never was. First, the work had only been in place for half a year. Second, the muralist was a famed London street artist promoting a show at a Pioneer Square gallery. And third, the work was replaced with another by local artist and prolific Capitol Hill muralist Weirdo.
