Richmond muralist Nils Westergard does most of his wall murals in Europe, Australia, and other places like New York and California, but not much here in his hometown.
Richmond muralist Nils Westergard does most of his wall murals in Europe, Australia, and other places like New York and California, but not much here in his hometown.
“I did my first [mural piece ever] in Richmond, sophomore year or junior year, so 2 or 3 years ago,” said Westergard. “I graduated last May from VCU.”
Check out pics from Westergard’s European tour here
One recognizable mural of his in Richmond, of a guy with blue eyes, is on the other side of Edo’s Squid.
“A lot of stuff in the past has been portraits of friends, stuff like that–just kind of simple,” said Westergard.
He finished a mural behind 821 yesterday, his first one in Richmond a while. “Now [my art]’s getting a little more convoluted, like [this has a dead blue jay down there] and this kind of sad dejected looking girl,” Westergard said of his new mural. “[I’m] not really sure where I’m going with it.”
Here’s him working on it yesterday; it was super windy.
The finished product as it appears today can be seen at the top of this story.
Apparently works of art like this are all in a day’s work, according to Westergard.
For the past two years, the Richmond Mural Project has brought famous muralists from all over the world to Richmond; they’ve made amazing murals all over the city. Westergard is one of Richmond’s own great artists (and there are quite a few). Hopefully we can see even more from him around town soon.
Check out Westergards’ work with the Painted Desert Project here.
