ASHLAND — The architecture of 100 W. Main St. has always turned heads, but now it’s something else about the building that’s making people stop for photographs.
A pair of wings appeared last weekend on the side of the building, owned by Brooks Whitmore and occupied by Ashland Books.
Placed at just the right height and distance apart for angelic-looking photos, the wings have passersby stopping to take pictures and post photos to social media accounts. A small “Ashland Main St. Ohio” logo in the corner of the mural lets viewers know where the pictures were taken.
The man behind the mural is Ashland resident Rafael Serrano.
Though Serrano declined to stand between the wings to have his picture taken, he is delighted every time he sees someone else doing just that. He reccomends using an Instagram filter to make the wall look bluer and make the “Ashland Main St. Ohio” logo stand out more.
Serrano doesn’t think of himself as an artist, but lately, he’s developed a habit of leaving acts of art around town.
“I grew up in Orlando, so a lot of times I do miss different things,” Serrano said. “Over the last six or seven years, they’ve been fixing Main Street, and that’s great, but you can’t go with the ‘let’s make it quaint’ thing. Everybody goes quaint… I saw the paint thing somewhere and thought, ‘Why doesn’t our town do that?'”
Serrano’s “hobby,” as he calls it, began with rainworks– temporary, rain-activated artwork created with hydrophobic coating– that Serrano left on sidewalks. His creations could only be seen when it rained, and they never lasted long.
A few weeks ago, Serrano started using paint instead, often without permission.
“The mayor always wants me to check in with him first,” Serrano said. “I always just end up asking for forgiveness afterward.”
First, Serrano painted several of the fire hydrants downtown. One was painted to resemble a minion from the movie Despicable Me, and another was made to look like a flag.
The city painted over most of the hydrants about a week later, and Serrano said he understands their reasoning. The colors of hydrants have meaning for firefighters, and Serrano’s intent was never to jeopardize safety.
Since then, Serrano has painted a flower on a planter outside Downtown Perk and a heart on the sidewalk around a bike rack in front of Juliana Bridal. He also left a couple surprises in Kinnaman Park, including a fairy and a painting resembling the famous woodblock print The Great Wave.
“It is technically vandalism,” Serrano admitted. “I never ask permission.”
That is, except for when he began planning the bookstore wings, his largest piece to date.
Serrano asked Ashland Books owner Wes Wyse and manager Hannah Farley if he could paint something on their building, but he didn’t tell them what. Farley said the bookstore gave Serrano the okay, and the building owner had previously agreed to a mural.
Serrano planned to surprise them with the wings, but Wyse ended up catching the artist in the act as he was applying the paint using stencils he made from posterboards.
“I was out here like four hours on a Saturday afternoon with a ladder and a radio, so not exactly hiding,” Serrano said.
Luckily, Wyse and Farley love the wings and appreciate the steady stream of traffic they’ve brought to the store.
“It was a little plain for me,” Farley said of the wall before the mural. “Bookstores are a place of imagination.”
Serrano said he plans to add more to the wall, possibly painting a series of bookcovers that wrap from the side to the front of the building.
Ashland Main Street Executive Director Sandra Tunnell said she loves that the wings are bringning people downtown and causing them to take pictures to share with friends.
“I think it’s neat because downtowns are supposed to be quirky and different, so having giant wings on a building is definitely different,” she said. “And the bookstore is really into the whole ‘We’re all in this together’ thing that we promote downtown, so this is a really good place for it.”
In many ways, Serrano’s street art is for himself.
“It’s my form of meditation,” he said.
But Serrano also hopes his creations will bring joy to others.
“I hope it gives someone a small reason to come downtown, or at least something different to remember when they go downtown,” he said.
