Three miles, 20 feet, 25 days: Those are the specifications for Ricardo J. Búrquez’s “My World” mural project. It’s an ambitious project, both for the artist and the Ketchikan Area Arts and Humanities Council.
“We’ve never done an evolving installation piece before and he’s never done one either,” said Marni Rickelmann, KAAHC program director, “but we thought it would be a great opportunity for both the artist and our gallery space.”
The mural, comprising Ketchikan’s shoreline from Bar Harbor to the Coast Guard Base, is taking shape before visitors’ eyes this month at Main Street Gallery. Búrquez started work on Oct. 3 and a celebration of the finished piece is planned for 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 28.
The slow transformation of the mural, done on five pieces of board, with the centerpiece five-feet tall and the height tapering off at either end, has attracted a steady audience.
“I think actually right now we have somebody that’s just been sitting in the gallery, just watching,” said Rickelmann during her interview with the Capital City Weekly. “Everyday, you hear somebody come by (and say) ‘Oh, there’s airplanes now’ or floatplanes have been added or clouds have been added.”
Compressing the shoreline into 20 feet has been a challenge, but Búrquez has not skimped on the details.
“It’s been fun to watch his process of going out and taking photos of all over town so he can get houses the right color or the right details about their decks and their shutters and some of them even have little vehicles parked in the houses,” Rickelmann said.
The gallery has been documenting the changes that each day brings as Búrquez works eight to ten hours to bring his world to life. Photos can be seen on their Facebook page at http://bit.ly/2ecJV6i.
Búrquez originally came to Ketchikan 18 years ago from Tijuana, Mexico to be a commercial fisherman but he has always wanted to work as an artist. The mural, he said, is a gift for all those who believed in his work.
“I didn’t come here as an artist. No, I came here as a commercial fisherman … but people they want me to be an artist,” he said.
One of those people is Ray Troll, who brought Búrquez to the gallery in the first place.
“I didn’t know what it was about. I thought he want me just to apply to be like member of this gallery. I didn’t know I was getting involved to do this project,” Búrquez said.
As Rickelmann tells it, “Ray Troll talked him into stopping by our gallery space and talking to us about applying for an exhibit.” From there, Búrquez and the gallery worked together to design the project.
Búrquez, who has been commissioned for murals for local businesses and residences, is excited for the chance to work on his own project.
“I really love what I’m doing. … It’s a big opportunity for me so people can see more of my work (and) do something I really like, not just painting something that people want me to do,” he said. “One of my biggest goals is, here in the States, to paint for public buildings, paint something cultural. … This is a big chance to start doing (that).”
The subject is dear to him as well.
“This is one of the topics I really like very much: What is cityscape and what else is in a place where I really, really love,” said Búrquez.
The mural is being done in the naïve style, a genre common to Latin American folk art. One of its main traits is a flattened perspective, “which is kind of perfect for the Ketchikan shoreline because we’re all kind of condensed here and stacked up on the side of the mountain,” Rickelmann said.
The gallery’s photos show detailed sketches that Búrquez made before starting to paint.
“It’s a very complicated work,” he said, “too many small structures, too many small details” though in the end it’s going to “look simple.”
Asked if he was going to finish on time, Búrquez laughed. “From now I have to work even more hours. It’ll be close,” he said.
The KAAHC hasn’t yet found a permanent home for the mural but hopes it will be “visible to everyone.”
Detail of artist Ricardo Búrquez’s “My World” mural on Day 12 at the Main Street Gallery in Ketchikan.
Day 11 of artist Ricardo Búrquez work on his “My World” mural project at the Main Street Gallery in Ketchikan.
