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Artists Brightening Underbelly of U.S. Highway 50 Viaduct in Sacramento

Artists Brightening Underbelly of U.S. Highway 50 Viaduct in Sacramento

6th Oct 2015

Two rising artists have begun an ambitious privately funded project creating a sprawling 70,000-square-foot mural on the underside of U.S. Highway 50 near downtown Sacramento. Nearly two years in the works, the Bright Underbelly project will be one of the largest murals ever painted on a State Department of Transportation (Caltrans) facility in California. “The Bright Underbelly Transportation Art Project will be an asset to Caltrans and the City of Sacramento for years to come. It will create a bright space in an otherwise dark location, providing civic pride while shopping for fresh produce at the weekly Sacramento Farmers Market,” said T. Chris Johnson, Caltrans District 3 senior landscape architect.

“We’re so excited. Painting something on this scale is really a challenge,” said artist Hennessy Christophel, who along with fellow artist Sofia Lacin will spend the next three months working like modern-day Michelangelos.

Christophel and Lacin will be working countless hours in a reclined position painting their bright-colored mural on the gray concrete underside section of the Highway 50 viaduct at Sixth Street between W and X streets. When finished, the mural will provide a colorful canopy of birds and trees over shoppers visiting the popular year-round Sunday Farmers Market. The artists and Bright Underbelly project manager Tre Borden have raised $110,000 in private grants and donations to underwrite the mural project. The team worked with Caltrans and the City of Sacramento to secure the location for the region’s largest public mural. The artwork is expected to be completed in time for the winter holiday season.

http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist3/wsc/pio/pr/index.php?action=getPressRelease&id=758