By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
LOVES PARK — Have you ever watched paint fry?
Brett Whitacre has.
The Rockford muralist worked 12-hour days through oppressive August heat that practically cooked his paint as he turned the gray facade outside CD Source Records into a colorful music-inspired mural.
“It was 95 degrees that week, on average, and it’s a rubber roof,” Whitacre said of his working conditions over eight full days and a couple nights. “It was actually sizzling, broiling.
“It was like 120 (degrees) coming off of there. The south-facing wall, right now, gets sun all day. No shade at all.”
Whitacre’s work, the latest in the Rockford Area Convention & Visitors Bureau’s CRE8IV: Transformational Art mural project, was celebrated Thursday by dozens of people, including what may be the largest-ever gathering of Rockford-area DJs.
Whitacre’s mural depicts a record on a turntable, a speaker and colorful tiles with lettering to spell out Loves Park. It’s painted on the south side of CD Source Records, a half-cylindrical shaped building at 5723 N. Second St. A column on the west side of the building was painted to depict vertically stacked record jackets of the store owner’s favorite albums.
“No one even looked twice at this building until now,” said Vic Rivera, a DJ and dancer who organized the gathering of more than 40 local DJs. “Now they have a landmark and a focal point to come take photos or even come support this business that has been in the area for 20 years.”
All area DJs were invited to attend the celebration of the DJ-themed mural and recognize the area’s music scene.
“I’ve been continuously an advocate for public art,” Rivera said. “It brings us together; it creates moments like this.”
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‘Unique’ mural creates challenges
The building’s curved shape made for a more challenging project than many of the Visitors Bureau’s other 23 CRE8IV murals, said Kristen Paul, director of destination development for the Visitors Bureau.
“Normally, it’s real easy: The painter’s union comes and primes and it’s done,” Paul said. “But because this building is actually all roof and it’s not a building, we had to go through many, many steps to get approvals from the roofing company so that it didn’t void out the warranty on the roofing.”
A special primer from California also had to be ordered before Whitacre could begin his work. The location, despite its challenges, was the perfect place for Whitacre’s mural, she said.
“This was one was kind of the obvious choice because it’s so prominent, people can see it, and it’s a different shape, so it’s kind of unique in and of itself,” Paul said. “Now they almost have a kind of built in event space because they have a backdrop that people want to come see.”
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Overbooked and happy
Whitacre, 44, used a digital projector at night to outline his mural, filling it in with color during the daylight.
The musical theme is appropriate for the artist, who spent much of his 30s touring as a drummer with the Legendary Shack Shakers. He would work on his art while home from tour and sell it while he was on the road. Now art is his full-time job.
Whitacre has a solo show running now at J.R. Kortman Center for Design, 107 N. Main St., called Plant-based Material. He’s also working on a couple other mural projects, one for Home Slice restaurant in Chicago and another Malibu-inspired creation for a private client in Byron. You may have seen other murals at local Beefaroo restaurants or his flowing American flag on the carpeted walls at Park Lanes Bowl, less than a mile down North Second from the mural.
“I’m overbooked as a muralist right now and I’m happy,” Whitacre said.
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter @KevinMHaas.