It might be difficult to imagine a favorite Dr. Seuss book covered in graffiti or a Lorax tagging the pages and adding street art to the sweet, quirky illustrations. But that image is exactly what you'll find in one of Grand Avenue's newest murals.
The parking lot wall of Bragg's Pie Factory needed a revamp. So artist Adrian Dominic (also known as SERK) collaborated with friends during Paint PHX, a mural-painting event reaching Roosevelt Row, 16th Street, and Grand Avenue, to paint over his existing mural and create a Dr. Seuss-themed piece to celebrate both the author's birthday and National Reading Month.
See also: Kristin Bauer and Emmett Potter's New Mural Is at Phoenix's Medlock Plaza
The seven artists -- SERK, Page, Tame, Idea, BSIK, stoic, and Ausk -- have known each other for years, some since high school, and worked together to create a mural that would inspire the public, especially children, to read.
Dominic says that because people of all ages might walk past that wall, it's nice to align the theme with an event that is going on locally or for the kids.
Bragg's Pie Factory owner, Beatrice Moore, says that she likes when the visuals contain a message or an educational value for the public.
"I like the sensibility of something tying into the Dr. Suess story because that story is about diversity," Moore says. "Seeing this might ignite reading of the story."
The mural previously on the wall, which was done by Dominic and the same core group of artists, was about recycling.
The artists painted the mural during the Grand Avenue Festival about four years ago, when the theme of the festival was recycling. They incorporated cartoon-like trashcans, garbage, and visuals that aimed to inspire recycling.
Moore says that, although she was sad to see that mural go, the paint itself was beginning to wear and she was happy that the new mural was to be done by the same people.
Dominic says it was a pleasure to reunite for the work on the wall.
As a professional tattoo artist and artist in other media, Dominic is hardly ever in one place, and for him, the Paint PHX weekend was "kind of like an art vacation."
"It's rare that we get to get together," he says. "It's relaxing."
Even though most artists, these included, do not work with just one medium, Dominic said that working with these guys on street art takes him back to the old days.
"We are all rooted in graffiti culture," says Dominic.
