New murals painted

Two new murals were painted on buildings last week that are part of a larger effort to bring more art and economic development to Tucumcari, with a mural festival in the spring.

Ian Ross of Mill Valley, California, by midweek finished painting Southwest-inspired scenes on sides of the Bowen Electric Corp. building at 1502 S. First St.

About the same day Ross finished his mural, Andy Brown of Phoenix began one on the southwest corner of First and Main streets, featuring a bird's eye view of a painter.

The surge of murals is the brainchild of new Tucumcari resident Matt Monahan, an artist who in 2016 founded The Most Famous Artist, a global community of more than 500 artists who support each other.

During a phone interview with Monahan, the former Los Angeles and Santa Fe resident said he bought a house south of Tucumcari in part because two aunts and his mother live in town.

"I moved here partially because it's a great place and partially because it's a huge opportunity to bring art to the town and help economic development," he added.

Monahan said he plans to fund more artists to paint murals along the Main Street, First Street and Route 66 corridors. He said he seeks to make the murals fit into community aesthetics "but bring a contemporary look."

"One thing I've observed in my art practice is that folks, especially tourists, want to take pictures in front of beautiful walls," he said. "That's proven out quite well in that my Instagram account has grown to be quite big - 187,000 followers - and I've got a huge community of artists because I've created a selfie-friendly mural style.

"What I've been able to do is assemble a community of other muralists and start to beautify walls so they become beautiful backdrops for pictures for people passing through town. The thinking is if you can take the less-beautiful walls and make them more attractive, people will spend a little more time in town, they'll take pictures in front of murals, share their location, and other folks will follow."

Monahan said he's met with officials of Quay County government, Tucumcari MainStreet and the Tucumcari/Quay County Chamber of Commerce.

When asked how many murals he wants painted, he replied: "We want to do as many as the community wants us to do."

"What we're going to try to do moving forward is identify buildings," he said, "pair artists with building owners, make sure the building owner knows what's going to be painted in their walls and approve of it and maybe bring those mural presentations to city council or community meetings, and get as many up as we can.

"We're trying to put up beautiful art and bring attention to the town," he added.

Monahan said he wants to organize a mural festival for early next spring that also will feature food trucks and live music.

He reiterated he doesn't want to come in like gangbusters.

"I want to do it slowly," he said. "I don't want to come in right away and make a mess. I want to get to know the town, get involved in the various organizations and, over the course of the next five years, do good things here."

Monahan didn't dismiss the possibility his being based in Tucumcari might attract other artists to town.

"All I can speak to is my personal experience. I moved here, and I'm setting up shop," he said. "I imagine other artists will fall in love with Tucumcari like I did and move here, but that's not my core agenda."

Monahan gave five reasons why he moved to Tucumcari:

• Location. "As an artist, you're always looking for eyeballs. Tucumcari being on Route 66 gives us access to 16,000 cars every day," he said.

• Mesalands Community College. Monahan said he is attracted to its art department and wants to support it.

• Affordability. "I come from Los Angeles and Santa Fe. I can tell you it's more affordable to live here, and what artists are really looking for are the space and time to create stuff and not have to worry about paying rent," he said.

Monahan said most artists now operate online, and "we can kinds of live anywhere we want. That's something the pandemic kind of proved to us."

• Scenery. Monahan said he was attracted by nearby Ute Lake and Conchas Lake, plus "a lot of beautiful landscapes."

• Opportunity for others. He said Tucumcari provides the chance "for young people to step up and add to the town in terms of economic development ... bring fresh ideas."

Monahan said any business interested in hosting a mural or galleries should email him [email protected].

At the Bowen building Wednesday, Ross took a lunchtime break surrounded by hundreds of spraypaint cans he was using for the mural.

"It's inspired by the landscape," he said. "I'd never been to New Mexico before. The clouds and landscape sort of mirror each other, and there's these dramatic horizontal lines."

Ross said he's known Monahan for 13 years and wanted to support him.

"People are coming by, telling me what they like, what they see in it, which parts are their favorite, giving me honks ... It's just super-satisfying to know it's appreciated by the community," he said.

The building's new owner is Rob O'Niell, a contractor in Albuquerque known for his O'Niell's Pub. He said during a telephone interview he'd known the Bowen family for years.

O'Niell said he plans to convert the building into a medical marijuana dispensary. He said he has a license from Seven Clover, a regional medical marijuana chain. He said he might revisit the Tucumcari store's offerings once sales of recreational marijuana are legalized early next year.