Here’s Columbia’s newest selfie background

As Columbia’s original village neighborhood, Five Points has seen its fare share of the good, the bad and the disorderly.

For the past month, artist Chad Brady has been hard at work illustrating all of the area’s activities in a mural you can’t miss. Using the outer wall of Pecknel Music that faces the intersection of Harden Street and Saluda Avenue, the 80-foot-by-16-foot wall art has already become an attraction, garnering hundreds of selfies and Instagram posts – even though it isn’t finished yet.

Brady is originally from the Washington area but lives in Appleton, Wisconsin, where he is a resident artist and muralist. Go Columbia spoke with him about his inspiration, ties to Columbia and why he already refers to The Whig and the Art Bar as “home.”

Q. How did you discover your talent for being an artist?

A. In junior high a teacher started to nurture (my creativity), and then my family and everyone was behind it. I got into a countywide magnet program, and the whole goal of that course was to get a portfolio so that you can get into art school, which I did. But I only stayed for a year because I didn’t like people telling me how to paint. Then art kind of fell by the wayside. I got into the music scene (in Washington) and was working at nightclubs in the ’80s, so it was a while before I got back to it. But it was always an interest.

Q. So what drew you back to art?

A. I was always doing T-shirts or posters for friends or designing a logo or tattoo, and a local coffee shop in Virginia asked me to paint a mural. While I was painting that mural, a guy came up to me and said, “I have a friend who runs a mural business, and he’s looking for an assistant.” So … the next day he (the muralist) came by, and he watched me while I painted and offered me a job.

Q. What other artists inspire you?

A. As a kid, I was always drawn to Georgia O’Keeffe. Her colors and her looseness have always inspired me. When I got to see them up close and see these big, beautiful, blown-up flowers, you get to see the brushstrokes. And then one of my other favorite artists, as far as aesthetics, would be Frank Lloyd Wright. (Andy) Warhol was definitely another big influence, but there’s something about O’Keeffe that I keep coming back to.

Q. What’s your connection to Columbia?

A. My cousin (Sean McCrossin) owns Drip Coffee. So he contacted me around this time last year and said, “Columbia wants to do a mural, and they’re putting out an artist call and you should apply for it.” I sent a portfolio and they picked five finalists and asked for a design. My theme was always somewhat like a postcard. They wanted something that was a landmark and people would want to pose in front of, but I felt like it should (represent) Five Points and why you should want to go to Five Points. It’s music and the St. Patrick’s Day festival and people eating at a cafe, people shopping, getting haircuts – just a social hub that you come down to.

Q. Tell us about your time in Columbia.

A. I’ve been here for over a month … I’ve grown to know the neighborhood quite well. Got to know a lot of the people. One of the main characters in the mural is Drink Small (aka “Dr. Blues”), the blues artist. His daughter saw it and called his wife, and she came down and was just in love with it. She invited me to dinner, and so I’ve been over there and had a seven-course soul-food dinner with the Smalls, which was incredible.

And everyone stops. That’s the thing about working outdoors. People stop. I’m meeting all these colorful, interesting, creative people.

Q. Is it difficult to create art on such a large scale?

A. It can be. The advent of the hydraulic lift has really been a gift. Working off a ladder or a scaffold and constantly having to get down and back up – if I get caught up, I could be working on an area for three or four hours and then step back.

There’s also little things, like the physical things. This mural is on brick. … Last year I looked at it and thought it looked like decent brick, but then you get up close, and there’s been ivy all over it at one time, so there’s these thick old vines stuck in it and where the ivy was was now mold, so that had to be cleaned out. And in some places it’s uneven so you have to get down in all the grooves and the cracks.

And it’s a lot of pressure. It’s such a public thing. The pressure is people standing there watching you. It’s one thing to spend months in a studio working on a piece and have everyone see it when it’s done. Nobody sees the mistakes or the temper tantrums.

Q. So what do you like to do when you’re not painting?

A. I’ve been to the Whig, which I like a lot. I went to the Art Bar, and that felt like home. Those are the kind of places I’ve been spending my whole life in. I went to New Brookland (Tavern) for Hoechella, which was great. Hoechella was the most positive thing I’ve seen – the vibe in there was so great. Columbia feels like a home away from home.

Dwaun Sellers, dsellers@thestate.com

This story was originally published September 20, 2017 at 11:51 AM with the headline "Here’s Columbia’s newest selfie background."