Page 316 - YGARTUA: Magnum Opus - volume three

This is the largest mural of its kind in the world.
Commissioned by Keith and Judy Scott for
the new millennium in the year 2000, it was
subsequently repainted exactly for a second
time, in the summer of 2012.
The artist Paul Ygartua is a master in portraiture
with work featured around the world.
These faces are over 10 feet | 30.5
meters high! This is one of the world’s
largest paintings of its kind, at some
300 feet | 91.40 meters long and 25
feet | 76.20 meters high, featured in
two segments: The south-facing wall is called
“Beachcomber Salutes the Legends of the
Millennium”, a collection of faces that have
changed the course of history in the last 100
years. The west facing wall features a “Salute
to the Record Breakers”, showing famous faces
of personalities that have changed their sport
through great achievements.
“The Power of Creation, the challenge is to
influence your viewer to enable others to
experience the same emotions, the same high
the artist experiences through the energy
expressed at the moment of creation. Being
on the edge–originality, spontaneity, freedom
of expression. I like to approach the wall as
if it were a large canvas, it is more interesting
and more original to not use a projected image,
more of a fascination, more of a challenge, who
wants it to be easy.
I want to experience the energy, the high
of the challenge, your brain has to be alert,
concentration is at a peak at all times, you feel
connected. I find this to be thrilling, exciting
and more original and the end result is much
more satisfying. Murals create a completely
different challenge and a real physical workout.
Working on large canvases or a large wall
gives a much more vast appearance of space to
expand a visual impact from many yards away,
allowing viewing from a distance and visualizing
a finished product. Every artist aspires to paint
majestic canvases and no better is achieved
than painting wall murals. Most of the walls I
have painted range in size from 10x15 meters |
30x50 to 78x90 meters | 25x300 feet.
The challenge is creating the composition in the
right proportions at such a large scale. This is
approached with a vision of the wall finished
before you start. You need to see it in your
mind’s eye just to get the perspective, balance
and correct proportions. You must always
take on the opportunity of working without
a projector, in this manner the freedom of the
hand will often bring that third dimension that
you have always been trying to achieve. It is
only then when you will actually envision the
subject matter on the wall.”
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