Mural at old general hospital "finished for now" after thefts and other setbacks

Los Angeles-based graffiti artist RISKleaves Sudbury today after 13 days spent working on the mural at the old general hospital on Paris Street.

While work on the mural has finished, it has not been completedto the extent that RISK and Up Here organizershoped it would be.

A seriesof setbacks stunted its completion, including a rashof thefts.

"Equipment failure happens a lot, especially on this scale. So we're used to that.Butthey stole our equipment three times, we're not used to that," RISKsaid in an interview.

Thousands in equipment stolen

On the first day that RISK's manager arrived, his car was broken into. Up Here organizer Christian Pelletier said that a laptop and other belongings were stolen.

After the first day of painting, the team stored their equipment in a large shipping container in the fenced-off area just south of the hospital.

They returned the following morning to find the locks on the gate andshipping container cut.Their industrial paint sprayer was gone.

They resolved to store their equipment in a mobile trailer that was moved off site each night. On Saturday, followinga number of nights without incident, they left the trailer behind. On Sunday they realized four of the paint sprayers were gone.

Pelletier says that each sprayer costs about $1000.

"I think it's people who were scoping out the site earlier. They kind of knew what we had. They only went for the sprayers," he said.

Uneven footing creates problems

The terrain surrounding the old hospital also caused both practical and financial problems for the project.

"We're used to doing fairly simple murals downtown on flat surfaces," Pelletier said, "When you're working on a construction siteyou need to get gravel moved, you need to level out some areas so the lifts can move, you need to bring in special equipment."

"All that added up to some extra costs."

Pelletier suspects that it could take an additional10 days of painting to cover the entire hospital.As it stands now, all sides visible from Paris Street have been painted. The back side, facing Lake Ramsey, sits in itsoriginal state.

"That area is all bush right now," he said, noting thatthere is also a large helicopter pad that can't be manoeuvred around using the equipment the team currently has.

"We're just going to see how far we can get by the end of the day today and a little bit of tomorrow morning before the crew takes off."

When asked, RISKwas very confident that the south wall would be completed before he leaves.

"We're going to finish it," he said, "You can always spend another month on things, it depends on how detailed you get. Something on this scale, I think that less is probably more."

He admitted yesterdaythat he may be staying up late to work on the mural.Adding that he's a graffiti artist, which means he's used to working in the dark.

What the future holds

Pelletier is hopefulthat RISKcould come back to finish painting the entirety of the old hospital.

"If we were to do it eventually, it would need even more equipment and even more funds," he said.

RISKis in high demand. He isputting on threeshows in Los Angeles in the near future, and will be travelling to Nashville to complete another mural.

"We're committed to finishing it, we just need help," Pelletier said.

They are requesting donations via a link on the blog section of their website.