Construction sites aren’t usually considered places of beauty, but local artists are creating works of art in otherwise unsightly spaces thanks to the SurReal Estate project.SurReal Estate is a project that uses temporary or derelict spaces like construction sites to promote local artists. Culture Candy, a local nonprofit organization which promotes the growth of local artists, sponsors the SurReal Estate project. “[SurReal Estate] has a personal, community value,” said Erin Rolfs, executive director of Culture Candy. “It shows people what it’s like to live with art on a daily basis — it’s pleasing, expressive and relatable.”SurReal Estate is currently working with Marvin “Buddy” Ragland of Coleman Partners Architects on the renovation of the King Hotel in the downtown area.”This is our first time to work with [Culture Candy], and I think it’s a great idea,” Ragland said. “We’re excited to help the art community in a small, simple way.”The construction team and the owners of the King Hotel project will pay for the supplies and materials the artist will need, Ragland said.The project will begin with an 8-by-12-foot plywood panel on the construction fence around the building, which artist and University graduate Todd Hines will cover with a mural. “[The SurReal Estate project] makes people pay attention to something they normally wouldn’t pay attention to,” Hines said. “[The project] allows you to take something people would normally ignore and turn it into something that is unique and interesting.”
Rolfs said SurReal Estate hopes to get local artists to cover the remaining two panels on the fence outside of the King Hotel renovation.”The benefit to [Coleman Partners Architects and the King Hotel owners] is incremental, but they see the space as a way for artists to express themselves,” Rolfs said. “It’s a nod that Baton Rouge desires to embrace local artwork.”Rolfs said getting approval for new projects from landlords and property owners is difficult because they think the art will be extra work, but she is happy the King Hotel project is under way.”We have had such high hopes for this project, and it’s nice to know that it will now be realized,” Rolfs said.The Culture Candy executives were approached by Ragland about a year ago to start a project on the King Hotel construction site. The final sketches for the mural are being approved by the owner of the hotel, and Hines is expected to start painting within the next month, Rolfs said.”[The project] provides the universal value of being able to see art everyday,” Rolfs said. Hines said he wants to create a cityscape that looks as though it were constructing itself in his mural for the wall.Previous SurReal Estate Projects include the walkway outside the One Eleven Apartments, an interactive installation created by University grad students, and Within the Hemline, another installation featuring art created from items normally found around the house.
“We like to support the arts, and this is a great way to do it,” Ragland said. Rolfs said SurReal Estate is based on a similar project in Houston which manipulates abandoned houses into art. SurReal Estate began its first project in February 2008 when a mural was created inside the construction walkway set up around the Shaw Center for the Arts during the time the One Eleven Apartments were being constructed.–Contact Emily Slack at [email protected]