If you’re involved in Atlanta’s arts scene at all, surely you’ve heard the name (or at least seen the work of) Greg Mike. For more than 10 years now, he’s been an integral part of the city’s creative progression, whether it’s through his colorful murals all over town, his gallery and creative agency ABV Gallery, or through his Outer Space Project, which brings a roster of local and international artists together to paint murals in various local ‘hoods — including the ones that don’t normally get much artistic love.
Recently, he hit a new milestone by completing his largest mural to date: using 350 cans of spray paint over 180 hours, his 220-foot-by-30-foot mural can be found on the side of the Whitefoord Bridge. Mike took time out of his whirlwind travel and painting schedule to talk with CommonCreativ about his illustrious career, what’s next for him and why it’s crucial for the city to support its artists.
CommonCreativ: What were some of the highlights of the Outer Space Project for you this year?
Greg Mike: It’s always great bringing local and out-of-state artists together, and bringing art to new neighborhoods that maybe don’t get a chance to get street art. It’s making people get out and explore neighborhoods they don’t get to or don’t have reason to go to. It’s cool to spread out and place murals in different locations — Atlanta is a huge city, and some other art festivals just focus on one block or neighborhood. I think it’s really cool that Outer Space Project gives people a chance to explore the city.
CC: Tell me about the mural you did for the project.
GM: I painted my biggest mural ever in my career, which was really exciting. It’s on Whitefoord Bridge, and it’s 220 feet by 30 feet.
CC: How do you map out a project on such a huge scale like that?
GM: In the beginning, that mural in particular was a lot of rough sketches. I was kind of freestyling it, and I realized there needed to be more of a concrete plan. Once you get on site, there’s things you’re going to change — your interaction with people might influence your work or change the direction. I started sketching and, as it came to life, it kind of developed more into what it should look like and how it should flow. It was a longer piece, so I wanted it to not just look the same [as my other murals]. I wanted it to take you for a ride and use a few different styles: traditional stuff, cartoon stuff, colorful bold stuff with more abstract and realism stuff. If you look at my last three or four solo shows over past 10 years, you can see elements of all my other shows. It was definitely a culmination.
As far as process, sometimes I’ll do some sketch work on a pad, then sketch on the wall with a gray can [of spray paint] almost the color of a charcoal pencil, just to get some sort of architecture on the wall. A lot of the colors were done on the spot. I have a palette I work with — I studied design, so I’m very into balance from a design standpoint.
Infographic by Sarah Lawrence
CC: How do you think the city’s view on public art has evolved?
GM: I see it on multiple levels because I own a gallery, so I see the business side and the social side of it. You see it online and with the increase of people using social networking and how much art is posted, then also from business side, working with developers to get murals on their properties. They see that it brings people out. I see it from all sides: there’s city support, people support and business support. We do murals for everything from corporations to tech startups and restaurants — business are more open to art, they respect and support it. Now, we come in and they don’t say “paint our logo,” they say, “You do you.” I think that’s possible because of this whole movement, and people have been more accepting of it.
CC: How have you seen the local arts scene evolve over the years?
GM: From a public arts standpoint, it’s grown tremendously because locals and the city have supported it. It pushes Atlanta to be a street art capital through things like Forward Warrior, Elevate, the BeltLine, Outer Space Project, all these things culminate to create an art scene, and I think it’s headed in the right direction of making Atlanta more of an art capital of the South. It takes a bit of everything.
CC: What other projects do you have on the horizon?
GM: I wear a number of hats: there’s my street art stuff, and I have ABV Design Agency & Gallery. I’m going to Massachusetts for Pow Wow, a mural fest I’m painting in, then I go to Detroit for Murals in the Market, then I go to Shine in Tampa to battle in Secret Walls, and then there’s studio work in between that. I’ve got some personal commissions and, in terms of ABV, we’re in the middle of producing a number of things for Red Bull’s Music Academy project. We took over Patchwork Music Studios and did signage, murals and custom interior work. I’m producing a bunch for music festivals like Moonrise in Baltimore, a live art-itorium in partnership with Heineken. There’s another big wall I’ll be painting in Atlanta shortly, it’s a pretty well-known wall, so that’ll be in September. Then we’ve got another ABV group show with 50 artists from all over the world — the goal is to do those quarterly.
CC: What’s been your biggest professional accomplishment to date?
GM: I don’t know if there’s one specific thing. With all of these projects, what I enjoy most is being able to do all of them. I like to design concepts and installations and see them come to life. I don’t like limiting myself. I like having the ability to help other artists and bring others in from different cities. I just want to continue to paint and stay creative.
You can see more of Greg Mike’s work on his site and Instagram.
