The NTC Foundation, which oversees the development and operation of 26 buildings at Arts District Liberty Station, recently selected six temporary art projects as part of a new rotating program titled Installations at the Station. Four projects have already been installed.
Starting on Aug. 3, Installations at the Station will welcome contemporary figurative artist Hugo Crosthwaite to Arts District Liberty Station. An internationally recognized artist, Crosthwaite will create site-specific, outdoor murals to further transform the monochromatic, rigid former military base into a creative space that better reflects the growing arts and cultural destination.
Crosthwaite will paint 16 improvisational murals related to the area, its Navy history, and circumstances he encounters each day while on-site from Aug. 3 to 17. Visitors are invited to watch and engage in conversation with the artist as he paints, experiencing the beauty of dialogue through muralism and draftsmanship.
The title of Crosthwaite’s murals, Column A and Column B: A Continual Mural Narrative Performance, refers to both the 16 columns of Barracks 14, where the murals will be painted, and to comparative narratives.
“Ideas can be judged in juxtaposition to one another by the different people whose opinions will determine them. Ideologies, intrinsically neutral, are given power — by those who are interpreting them. Column A and Column B: A Continual Mural Narrative Performance is just an idea — until someone gives it personal weight and meaning,” Crosthwaite explained.
“I look forward to creating an improvised mural performance in a public, communal place that will lead to a conversation about the nature and impermanence of art. At its core, the project is simply about a man, a ladder and a paint brush,” he added.
Crosthwaite lives and works between Tijuana, Los Angeles, and New York. Inspired by the heritage and turmoil of border regions, Crosthwaite works in a style that brings together portraiture of ordinary people, comic book characters, street signage, urban facades, mythological references, and contemporary subjects into dense and layered compositions.
This mixture creates feelings of chaos and spontaneity, reflecting the frenetic urban settings of border towns like Tijuana and San Diego. Crosthwaite was born in Tijuana in 1971 and grew up in the tourist-heavy beach town of Rosarito, Mexico.
He graduated from San Diego State University in 1997 with a BA in applied arts and sciences. Shown widely throughout the world, his work is in the collections of major museums across Southern California and Florida, and in Tijuana.
“All of the artists featured in Installations at the Station included their own unique voice in examining and thinking about our region’s history and culture, while incorporating innovative ways to engage the public,” explained Vicki Reed, chair of the Art in Public Places Committee, NTC Foundation.
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
Crosthwaite on-site painting: Aug. 3-17.
Time: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Times may vary slightly according to artist’s schedule.
Murals on view through 2018.
Location: Arts District Liberty Station, Barracks 14 (next to Liberty Public Market, Portraits
for All and Point Loma Tea).
2770 Historic Decatur Road.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIBERTY: Aug. 3, 5 to 9 p.m.
Meet the artist and watch him work from 5 to 8 p.m.
