click to enlarge Photo via hornsbygator/Facebook
Eric Hornsby’s GMF mural features a red-winged blackbird perched on the neck of a guitar, a Florida panther on keys, a tree frog latched onto a microphone, an owl on sax, a fox on drums, and an alligator working the turntables.
Graffiti artist and Tampa Bay Fresh Fest co-founder Eric “Esh” Hornsby wrapped on a new mural on the side of Gasparilla Music Foundation (GMF) headquarters in Tampa last summer, just as Creative Loafing Tampa Bay shipped
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GMF Executive Director David Cox commissioned Hornsby to complete the mural after seeing Hornsby’s alligator on the side of Muay Thai in Tampa Heights. “He got my number somehow and just gave me a call,” Hornsby told CL.
In terms of creative direction, Hornsby says it was “all pretty fast and loose.” They kicked around a few ideas—a hurricane, an alligator, musical instruments. From these suggestions, Hornsby proposed a Florida swamp full of Florida critters doing Florida things, but with musical instruments. From there, Hornsby had 15 days to complete the project, painting from the top down over corrugated metal and around windows.
“It was a challenging wall,” Hornsby told CL. “And it was 100 million degrees out. So I would get up super early. I’d drive over there and paint until it got unbearably hot, usually around 11:30 a.m. or 1 p.m. Then I’d go back home. And when I’d go home, I would draw the studies of each animal. I would design at home and come back for a night shift around five or six and work ‘til dark.”
Hornsby’s GMF mural features a red-winged blackbird perched on the neck of a guitar, a Florida panther on keys, a tree frog latched onto a microphone, an owl on sax, a fox on drums, and an alligator working the turntables. Hornsby’s Florida swamp band plays under a Tampa skyline at sunset.
This isn’t the first music-themed mural Hornsby’s created in Tampa. He cites work at Showbar in Ybor City, the Straz Center, and a music studio in Lakeland. For artists like Hornsby, graffiti and music are linked through hip-hop culture. “The four elements of hip-hop are the rapper, the DJ, the break dance or B-boying, and graffiti,” Hornsby told CL.
It all originated in New York City’s Black and Latino neighborhoods in the late 1960s. Through his Florida swamp band, Hornsby brings that history to life locally at GMF headquarters, which is at 1723 W Cypress St in, Tampa.
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