Same Ole Paradise

Project: Installation for the Brooklyn Museum

Client: Alexis Smith

Commission: Illustration and Large Scale Mural

“Same Old Paradise, by Alexis Smith, a 22’ x 62’ mural with framed collages, was commissioned by Brooklyn Museum in 1987 as a temporary installation, after which it was crated and put in storage. It remained rolled up for thirty years. Alexis had promised to give the mural to the Stuart Collection if a wall could be found to accommodate it. Fast-forward to 2017 when a vast wall at a new auditorium proved to be ideal. The grand opening celebration of the completed installation happened in 2021.

Alexis worked with Lucia Vinograd, a fine painter and illustrator, to create the rendering for the mural. Lucia had recently painted some large peaches, like the kind you find on a fruit crate label—but for a record label. Alexis gave her a simple sketch of the composition for Same Old Paradise and they worked together to develop the five-point perspective of the orange grove and the colors in the scales of the snake that turned into a paved road.

Lucia’s completed rendering was stunning. Alexis used an overhead projector in the UCLA theater arts workshop to project the original simple drawing onto the light muslin after it had been stretched, primed, and fire protected. Alexis worked with Rich Sedivy, a professional scenic painter, to translate the painting from the 1/2” scale to a billboard or movie screen. Weeks of painting (and brush washing!) came after. Rich layered in the sky and mountains and the orange groves. Lucia painted the giant oranges and the snake with all its scales. Every image and shadow involved layers of different over-painted colors.”

(https://stuartcollection.ucsd.edu/artist/smith-a2.html)