Complexities in Live Graffiti

Live graffiti doesn't just happen

In June 2024, we were asked to take on a relatively complex operation for the grand opening of Cosm in Inglewood, CA. This is a truly incredible venue from a company that's been at the forefront of immense-scale screen technologies – their hardware and software powers the Griffith Observatory's planetarium, for instance. To show off their new space, they had a grand opening event and showed UFC 303 to attendees. To say it was a jaw-dropping way to watch a fight is an unreasonable understatement.

To celebrate, they wanted to bring some live artwork into the mix, so they hired us at Pulling Paint. David Kaul, our co-founder, has a ton of experience writing graffiti, but this presented some very unique challenges to the traditional setup of a wall, or a stationary canvas: they wanted it to start at street level, and finish on the roof. Then, they wanted to be able to take the canvas back to their offices for display.

How does one do that?

We've built and hand-stretched a lot of canvases in the past, for event executions, as office artwork, or even for residential display. However, we've never had the same logistical challenges that we needed to solve. Operating as a small team, how could we engineer a stretched canvas frame that would accomplish all of our creative and safety goals:

1. A total canvas size of 10' by 12'
2. The ability to transport this frame to the venue in a light vehicle
3. Be able to erect the frame on street level
4. Be able to strike the frame and transport to the roof
5. Be able to re-construct the frame at roof level
6. Not be turned into a giant sail with any gusts of wind

Our thinking hovered around simply taking the plans for a standard size canvas, and then expanding it in all directions. This meant that we needed to have some strong lumber, solid cross beams, and a ton of wood screws keeping it together securely.

However, we also needed to make it transportable, both to the venue, and by hand from street level to the roof. This means that building it at its full dimensions would be a non-starter: we'd need to break this down into 3 different frames that could be secured together.

From here, we'd need to build out another 2, and then be able to devise a way to fabricate all three of these frames together in a way that could handle canvas being stretched over it, and at least some bending under the load of transport. The finished frame was impressively large.

Once we felt comfortable that the frames could be free-standing, and we had a system for attaching and detaching them from each other, we got them into a place where they could be transported safely to the venue in a light vehicle.

At the venue

The next morning we loaded up a large van with our frame, and made our way to the venue, where we were able to start construction on the frame and stretching the canvas. For anyone who's wrapped canvas before, you know how difficult it can be to do on a small scale, let alone on a frame this large. However, we got the frame together, the canvas stretched, and the entire thing upright.

This led us to our next major issue: wind. We knew that this was going to be an issue, as we'd effectively created a massive mainsail that would catch any gusts that came through the space, but the strength of the wind was significantly higher than what had been forecast.

Luckily, we'd over-planned for this as well, and thanks to our friends at Westside Production Rentals we'd secured 350lb of sandbags that could weigh the frame down. It was a solid piece of canvas for us to work on.

Confident in the frame's ability to not blow down or away, we got to writing just before guests started to arrive.

Strike, transport, and re-construction

Roughly at the time when guests had stopped arriving there was a natural break in activity, and thus our queue to break this down, and move it upstairs.

This was absolutely the most difficult and dangerous component of the entire job for a number of reasons:

1. We had to make sure that we were striking this in a way where we didn't damage anything on the frame itself, and in a way that allowed us to re-attach everything after transport
2. We had to transport each section up three levels in a way that wouldn't damage or otherwise warp each of the individual frames
3. The frame had to be re-constructed so that it retained its structural integrity and ability to stand freely
4. Canvas had to be re-stretched accurately, in a way that minimized any blank spaces around the edges

With those not insignificant logistical concerns on our mind, we disassembled, carried, and re-assembled the entire frame, stretched the canvas, and got back to work finishing the piece as guests made their way onto the rooftop lounge.

Conclusion

While this was a relatively unique and at times daunting challenge, it was an amazingly rewarding experience to have been able to take part in. Not only because the venue was incredible, as was everyone on the team who we worked with, but being able to create a plan that solves a ton of issues in advance, execute on that plan, and rapidly solve new unforeseen issues that arise during production is all a critical component to our success as a mural and artwork studio. This provided an amazing opportunity to ensure that we're staying on top of our game in terms of what we can do, and expands the expertise we have for future assignments. While it wasn't the most stress-free evening, it was immensely rewarding and a phenomenal experience to have.