ART COMMUNITY
HOW FISH TURN TO DRAGONS From landscapes to cityscapes, Keith Wilde brings his passion to life. STORY, PHOTOS & DESIGN BY JOE TIMMERMAN
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patient hand moves the paintbrush across a retaining wall with rich lost atlantis pigments blending overtop a shade of a turquoise rivulet. Along the sidewalk of West Carpenter Street in Athens, an elaborately colorful story of a fish swimming upstream on its way to transform into a dragon with the perfectly chanced help of a single fallen coin, is coming to life. “This is probably my most ambitious work so far,” Keith Wilde, an Athens-based muralist, says. Drops of paint from many murals ago stain the khaki jumpsuit he’s had since he was seventeen as his strong, focused gaze seamlessly turns into an infectious smile. A former landscaper with a degree in art from Kenyon College, where Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson graduated, Wilde now splashes his coarse brush into ever-murky water as fresh paint strokes merge on his latest public creation. Detailed strokes of ocean abyss are next for a mural that, although other-worldly, represents a simple idea close to its creator’s story. Illustrated in the mural, and in the artist’s personal journey, is the idea that our actions and choices can end up meaning a great deal to others, whether we know it or not. Before Wilde transitioned into the fully freelance artist he is today, he taught art classes and focused on landscaping homes and business properties around Athens. His LLC’s name, Wilde Manifestations, was designed with careful consideration to encompass each of his large-scale creative passions: landscaping and painting, without labeling himself to one profession or the other. One of Wilde’s manifestations happened a few years ago when a woman who lives in town was desperate for someone to cut her grass. The local job led to more in-depth yard maintenance, and eventually turned into a backbreaking digging project for a drainage system. While Wilde worked excruciatingly hard under the hot summer sun, the woman
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smoked cigarettes on her front porch and made conversation, so the two got to know each other. Eventually, the woman found out Wilde is an artist and she commissioned him to make two paintings for her and her daughter, who worked for Ohio University. The woman’s daughter was planning a student learning trip to the Dominican Republic, and in the corner of a website was an advertisement for muralists to visit the country and create public art. The daughter told Wilde about it and soon after, he ended up in the Caribbean following his passion of making murals in the spring of 2019. “It was on some level because somebody was desperate for somebody to cut their grass and I said yes,” Wilde says. “I don’t attach a lot of metaphysical specifics to that … but it is pretty clear that when people are pursuing their own goals, there’s others that can help you along.”
Keith Wilde looks at his mural from across the street after setting up for the day in Athens, Ohio, on Thursday, November 4, 2021.
Keith Wilde paints details on his newest mural on West Carpenter Street in Athens, Ohio, on Thursday, November 4, 2021.
backdrop | Fall 2021
