You Can Help Finish The Chimera Graffiti Mural
There is a talented local artist who has been able to paint a nearly 10,000 square foot graffiti mural on a wall by himself.
Kobie Solomon is a street artist who wants to change the look of Detroit one wall at a time. His massive Chimera project, painted on the Russell Industrial Center is possibly one of the largest pieces of spray can art in the world.
A Chimera is a mythical animal made up of parts of other animals. Kobie’s work is made up of parts of all of Detroit’s four major sports teams, as well as parts of Detroit’s artistic community.
Kobie told us chief among the reasons for painting the mural was, “To give a newer appreciation to some of the local artists.”
But after 1,000 hours of labor the mural is not finished.
And Kobie is running out of time and money. He says, “There were some issues with support for the lift because it is a very expensive piece of equipment.”
And that’s where Jordan Wolfe and Detroit Harmonie come in. “We decided to do a kickstarter campaign to raise the money and Detroit Harmonie is matching up to $3500 dollar for dollar and we’ve hit out minimum to get Kobie up on the wall. We’ve raised just under $5000,” according to Jordan.
Both Kobie and Jordan are hoping that artistic projects like this one will inspire others to improve their environment. Jordan says, “We’re talking about something for very little resources that will make a huge impact on what we’re trying to do here.”
As for Kobie, “I hope people like it, that’s all. I hope it makes people happy and there are 1000 different kinds of happy.”
Jordan says “These are pretty amazing Band-aids. We have a lot of abandoned buildings and I think it can do some very special things for the city.”
Click here for more information on how you can help get Kobie back on the wall.
You are kidding me right? You idiots want to spread the idea that tagging is ok. It devalues the city in the works way. You have this culture where everyone wants to celebrate our diversity with this kind of crap and the sad part is, this type of culture is a dead end. There is no way to mainstream it. Ever here of a sucessful Graffiti artisit. I haven’t. I have heard of some dead ones though, Put their Graffiti on the wrong wall. WISE UP!
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Well i belive this is a great ideal .Its ART just because it from a spray can, it does not mean its bad. Yes there people out there that “tag” but does this look like a gang sign ,name or symbol. No it is not . all art is good art. I belive if i could go to the city and see more art like this i would go alot more.
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What about the Wyland Whaling Wall #76 “Whale Tower” – that was painted on the the side of Broderick Towers in 1997? Robert Wyland, a Michigan native, is well known for his art of marine life. Artist Wyland says he created the mural to show the connection between Detroit’s lakes and the ocean. This mural has been covered by an advertisements. Why does no one care about this one?
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haha Chuck..ever hear of Banksy?? How about Sheppard Fairey? David Choe?? I could sit here all day naming graffiti artists that make millions more a year than you do.lol
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