Artist to paint his biggest mural at fair

Working as a graffiti and mural artist for more than a decade, Ryan "ARCY" Christenson is used to painting some large canvasses.

This week, however, at the DuPage County Fair in Wheaton, Christenson will take on a new challenge as he paints a 164-foot wall on the fairgrounds' grandstand - the largest wall he has ever painted.

Christenson will work on the mural from the beginning of the fair on Wednesday, July 27, until it closes on Sunday, and let fairgoers track his progress.

Although Christenson himself will not be able to talk to onlookers - he'll have a mask on his face to protect himself from the spray paint - a representative will be with him to answer questions.

"It'll be a spectacle everyone can watch," Christenson said. "I'm pumped about it. I feel confident, because if you're not confident, you've lost control."

Part of this confidence, he says, comes from his experience, since this art is his every day, full-time career.

In fact, after painting a three-story building in Ithaca, New York, he says he has been "craving" a large wall - an opportunity that doesn't often come around.

"Stars really have to align," Christenson said.

DuPage County Fair organizers decided to give him the challenge after seeing his work at an exhibition. At first, when organizers proposed creating paintings over the course of the fair, Christenson thought he would be doing five smaller murals in five days.

But then organizers said they wanted him to paint the entire grandstand wall.

"I said, let's do it," he says.

Christenson will use only spray paint for the mural and said he has the process down to a science.

"You become one with the wall," he said.

A projection of the finished project will be shown on the wall, which Christenson will use as a guideline to paint on. Because it is so big, the projection will be shown in sections, with the artist working part by part to get everything down.

"Slowly but surely, it will all come together and come to life in front of people's eyes," he said.

Jim McGuire, manager of the DuPage County Fair Association, said he found the quality of Christenson's work, and its medium, impressive, which is why organizers chose him to do the mural in the first place.

"Some of his stuff looks like they're photographs," McGuire says of the graffiti artist from Connecticut. "It's amazing to see what comes out on his fingertips."

While people can expect photorealism in the mural, Christenson also wants to feature his graffiti background.

"I don't want to just do pretty stuff," he said. "I want it to be edgy, so all walks of life can see the work and say, 'This is a real artist who understands color and theory and shadow and highlights,' but I also want it to connect with graffiti culture.

"I know it's a little bit stereotyped, but it can lead to very good things," Christenson said of his graffiti background. "I've taken the skills from the structure and the culture and attributed it to (my) career."