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| Marc Percansky (center) with team of artists from Brazil. |
The mural itself is quite extraordinary, but equally noteworthy are the stories behind the mural. Marc Percansky graciously offered details about the painting of this monumental work of art, calling it one of the Twin Cities' greatest landmarks. I have no doubt it will live up to this label.
"It is already turning into a major tourist attraction," said Percansky. "I guess you could call it the world's largest Bob Dylan Mural. People that pass by it who haven't seen it before love to stop and take photos of it. To me it is very thrilling and I am fortunate that it is in my hometown!"
Primary credit for this achievement goes to Eduardo Kobra, who Percansky calls "the Bob Dylan of his field. No one else could have done as good of a job as him."
The more Marc and I spoke the more I learned, so I thought it would be worthwhile to share some of that here. I asked the kind of things I thought inquiring minds might want to know.
Marc Percansky: Four Brazilians -- Agnaldo Brito Pereira, Cesar Almeida, Marcos Rafael and Eduardo Kobra -- and two Minnesota artists -- Erin Sayer & Yuya Negishi who moved to the Twin Cities from Japan in 2010.
EN: How long did it take to complete?
MP: Painting began on August 26th and was completed on September 8th, 2015. Kobra's whole concept was already planned in Brazil before he came over. Then he mapped out a strategy 20 days before they started to get the job done on time. It then took 12 days with around 12 hours a day to finish it. Joan was the onsite coordinator and made sure the artists had everything they needed while they worked. They would often have their lunch meals prepared right there. They were very hard working guys. The weather was very cooperative during that time. I only recall one rainy morning towards the end that held things up just a bit. On the last day Eduardo finished his signature just above the Brazilian Flag. He then gave it a thumb's up to the crowd and then later that day left town with his studio crew to do another mural.
EN: How much did it cost?
MP: About $50,000.00
EN: How long did they plan it before tackling the actual assignment?
MP: Goldman Sachs, which co-owns The 15 Building at 15 South 5th Street, hired the Hennepin Theatre Trust to manage the project, which was launched in November of 2014. The huge white wall on the west facade was the perfect location for this mural. It is right in the heart of downtown Minneapolis.
EN: What approvals were needed?
MP: To my knowledge, only city approvals were needed.
Marc created two pages to catalog the articles and other details about the project here at his Magic Marc Productions website. This is the link to the second page.
Here are some other links Marc sent last night:
Eduardo Kobra's Website: http://eduardokobra.com/
Hennepin Theatre Trust's Website: http://www.hennepintheatretrust.org/
Made Here's Website: http://www.madeheremn.org/
What a difference a little color makes on a drab day in the city.
Top of Page Photo Credit: Bob Dylan Mural by Eduardo Kobra - Agnaldo Brito Pereira, Cesar Almeida, Magic Marc, Marcos Rafael and Eduardo Kobra / Downtown Auto Park / 509 Hennepin Avenue / Minneapolis, Minnesota / September 5th, 2015 / Photo by Joan Vorderbruggen
3 comments:
Very interesting and informative article! Now I have a reason to come to Minnesota for sure! (just kidding, I have many reasons to come, actually.) The painting is totally awesome!
Fifty thousand dollars,
That's a lotta greenbacks,
But it's worth all the irony
Cuz it came from Goldman Sachs
Hope to see the mural someday.
Nancy: Yes, you will enjoy it....
and Mickey... thank for the "lines".... To the tune of which Dylan song?
Cool.
e
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