Newest Akron Civic Theatre mural depicts 3D mirage by Italian artist Peeta at Lock 4

When Italian street artist Peeta designed his "Urban Mirage" at Lock 4 in downtown Akron, he chose the top of the lock steps as a street-level vantage point for the mural's best three-dimensional effects, where jutting windows, curves, "platforms" and rings look like they're popping out the most.

"From the street, driving down or just standing on the top of the stairs" gives the most dramatic perspective for passersby, the artist said Tuesday at Lock 4.

Peeta played off of existing bricked-over windows on the Civic' Theatre's huge brick wall, incorporating one window that still has glass into his design that includes additional faux windows that he painted. He chose light blue for his painted windows, so at times, they match the real window that reflects the color of the sky.

"Depending on the light conditions, the color really matches. It depends on the sky color," Peeta said at an artist's reception Tuesday at Wild Oscar's.

Peeta spends 20 days in Akron

Peeta, born Manuel Di Rita, is originally from Venice and now lives in Delft in the Netherlands. He spent 20 days in Akron painting the newest mural on the exterior of the Akron Civic Theatre at Lock 4, above Michael Ayers' jazz legends mural and next to El Mac and Aiseborn's huge 2020 "Axis Mundi" depicting two children .

The Italian artist's 2,000-square-foot mural was commissioned by Curated Storefront with support from the Akron Civic Theatre as part of the public theater's public art strategy developed in 2019. The Italian artist was one of the first artists selected to create a large-scale mural but due to the pandemic and travel restrictions, his work in Akron was delayed until now.

He arrived to two days of heavy rain in Akron, which allowed him to organize his supplies inside Wild Oscar's at the Civic, a small venue behind the theatre at the Lock 4 level.

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Peeta painted with a sprayer, which he said requires less paint than a roller or brushes do. The Civic's brick wall, he said, was "thirsty."

The artist said he painted faster than expected because the 135-foot lift that Curated Storefront provided him moved around quickly and efficiently.

Curated Storefront Executive Director Rick Rogers said he has admired Peeta's work for a long time. The internationally known artist's immersive murals have been commissioned in Europe, North America and Asia.

"It makes Akron a distinctive place, which is our objective for this program, to bring high quality art to the public spaces," Rogers said of Peeta's mural at Lock 4. "When you look at murals, it's probably one of the lowest-cost ways that we can improve the environment, our cultural environment in the community."

Curated Storefront has worked with Peeta before. During the pandemic, he produced a mural called "The Sweet Spot" for the organization's Outside the Box series at Akron's Northside District. The artist printed the mural in Italy and shipped it to Akron, where it was displayed on one of Curated Storefront's upcycled shipping container galleries.

From street artist to large-scale muralist

Peeta, 44, started as a graffiti artist in the 1990s. He came to the United States for the first time in 2002 and joined the famous FX and RWK graffiti crews of New York. In the last 10 years, he's received many requests to create large-scale murals. Switching to large-scale murals over time, he started to get away from just graffiti and to play with architecture and blending the environment.

The artist uses an anamorphic approach in his murals to redefine surfaces, using perspective angles and shapes to transform a two-dimensional surface into a dynamic space with depth.

"By seamlessly blending the building's architectural elements with dynamic, sculptural forms, my intention is creating a captivating 3D illusion that challenges our perception of space," he explained in his artist's statement.

That illusion is so realistic, when Akron Civic Theatre board members saw a concept drawing of Peeta's work for approval, they wondered if the Civic wall was strong enough to handle all the weight that would be put on it, not realizing it would be a painted mural.

Interestingly, Peeta doesn't sign his murals, so you won't see his signature in the corner of Akron's.

"I don't like to sign the murals," he said. "I find it distracting. I prefer to just have something plain (in the corner). Hopefully my style is strong enough to be recognized without even reading the name."

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Newest Akron Civic Theatre mural depicts 3D mirage by Italian artist Peeta at Lock 4