High Octane Mural to debut at BMX track

BMX is a high-octane sport—how could something involving racing and stunts be anything other than high-octane?—but now the BMX track in Riel Recreation Park is getting a paint job with the energy to match.

The city recently put a call out for artists to pitch mural ideas for the track. Kerzeka, the shared moniker of Calgary-based artists Kerz and Zeka, answered the call, and have been chosen to create the mural.

“Our art is very vibrant and bold,” Zeka says. “It has that raw feeling to it. We pitched it as complementary [to BMX] … we feel like we just have a lot of elements in our art that really relate to that very energetic sport, and they agreed with that as well.”

The two artists have been collaborating for years. They met when Zeka interviewed Kerz for a job at an art gallery: that job didn’t pan out, but the two hit it off and started working together. Kerz, born in Rome, had a background in murals, while Zeka had experience in other styles, but was interested in exploring that side of the art world. It’s proven a fruitful, lasting collaboration: their differing skillsets come together in colourful, eye-catching designs.

“It has a lot to do with us knowing each other so well as individuals,” Zeka says. “We just have that unspoken communication when we're working on projects, where one will pick up where the other finishes. It's kind of the visual equivalent to being able to finish each other's sentences.”

After receiving the contract from the city, the duo did some community engagement in June: a hands-on mini mural camp. They brought a large, blank board and ample paint so anyone who came by could take a hands-on approach to learning about the art form.

“Originally we had been talking about maybe just setting up a stand and asking questions and going that route,” Zeka says. “But once we brought up doing a little mural camp, they were really on board with that: of teaching the kids—we had some adults coming as well—to learn the medium a little bit, get the vibe of it, and then just talk about the mural through that point of view. And it really opened them up to seeing and understanding, in a very grounded way, through their own movements, what a mural entails.”

“We would show them how to do it for a few minutes, and they would just take over and have their own practice and try and see what happens,” Kerz adds. “It was really nice to see them go into that creative mode.”

Interest in murals is growing, they note, from both cities and businesses. Adding color and style to an otherwise plain wall has a way of changing the dynamic of a public space for the better.

“It really rejuvenates the area … it becomes basically like an open sky museum,” Kerz says. “It’s public art that you don't have to pay for. You're not going into a museum and buying a ticket, but you can experience it for free.”

Article Written by: Paul Blinov

The finished Kerzeka mural will be unveiled at Riel Recreation Park later this summer.

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