The Lompoc Mural Society has been beautifying the small town, officially, since 1988, regularly commissioning large works on public buildings that somehow reflect Lompoc history and culture. The latest installment brought a celebrated muralist to the Central Coast.
“We are really excited,” said Lompoc Mural Society project administrator Vicki Andersen. “It’s been a long time coming and this guy is really well known in the mural world, so this is a great thing for Lompoc.”
John Pugh was first commissioned to create the work in 2008, but was creating large, visually exciting murals abroad until earlier this year. He was selected for his exceptional skill as a trompe l’oeil artist, a style that creates the illusion that a flat painting is actually bursting into three dimensions.
“It’s a French word for ‘fool the eye,’” Andersen said. “If you see it in person you have to practically go up and touch it to make sure it’s not real, that it is an illusion.”
Pugh has created many murals across the globe. Most can be found in North America, but he’s also crafted murals in Japan, China, and New Zealand. Each Pugh creation is an optical illusion that conveys either something coming out of a wall or a scene receding into one.
“He’s done them in Barbados, all over the states,” Andersen said. “He did one in Honolulu that I saw; he did a big huge wave coming out of a two or three story building, and you would be amazed by the realism.”
According to his personal artist statement on artofjohnpugh.com, Pugh thinks it’s important to interact with a community in which he is creating a mural, and he feels that a piece of art can create a “bridge between diverse cultural backgrounds.” This outlook meshes perfectly with the mission of the Lompoc Mural Society, which uses the paintings to beautify Lompoc, but also to unite the diverse ethnic and cultural groups that call the town home.
“Most of our murals are in Old Town Lompoc in walking distance,” Andersen said. “They all represent Lompoc’s history in some way.”
Pugh was inspired by centuries of Lompoc history when creating the idea for his mural, Andersen explained.
“He kind of got interested in a number of things,” she said. “The Chumash Indians and their canoes, the old Spanish galleons that used to sail up and down the coasts, and he was really intrigued by the disaster out at Honda Point, and that all kind of gelled in his brain and came out the other side.”
The mural combines three distinct eras of history and a watercraft from each. The prow of a Navy vessel—similar to one lost in the Honda Point disaster—is bursting out from the wall of Sissy’s Uptown Café. Within the side of that gargantuan gray boat, a cross section reveals the familiar woodwork of a Spanish galleon, from which another cross section exposes a canoe manned by Chumash. In the illusory style Pugh is known for, what appears to be pieces of the wall bending back becomes a beautiful blue ocean and sky.
The Sept. 13 event is a dedication and ribbon cutting for the new mural and will be attended by Pugh and his wife, who helps him create his murals. The new work is located in Lompoc’s Art Alley, which runs parallel to Ocean Avenue, in between I Street and H Street. m
Arts Editor Joe Payne’s eyes can’t be tricked. Contact him at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Sep 11-18, 2014.