Funk Zone mural takes flight with a concern over future use
In what’s likely the single place in Santa Barbara for spontaneous creative art, a new piece in the Funk Zone has some questions about murals flying around City Hall.
The new piece is on the back of an Anacapa Street building facing Garden Street and the waterfront. It features a pilot in an aerial ascent over Stearns Wharf and the waterfront in an open cockpit plane.
But it has raised issues about whether it was an art piece or an ad.
” It’s not real, it’s fake. There’s no agreement, no resolution was ever passed by the city council, ” said Anna Marie Gott a city politics watchdog. She raised concerns about the mural at a recent council meeting.
Artist Thomas Van Stein says this Funk Zone mural has been in the design stages or finished in his garage since 2015.
In July, it went up with a special ceremony after he was given the approval to hang it.
It’s on a building that already has a long line of murals.
” Not only is it a sign advertising the entrance to the Funk Zone in a public lot, now it is advertising a clothing line with 30-inch tall letters, ” said Gott .
That refers to claim the Funk Zone Brand as painted on the mural is the start of a business.
Van Stein says it is just a reference to the time period for the image that looks like a citrus label.
” I didn’t own the brand, I didn’t own anything. I just did it just because it would be consistent with the 1920s era, ” he said. ” I don’t own a business called Funk Zone brand and I still don’t own the ‘trademark.’ ”
Gott says, ” we really need to create a mural program that really is a mural program, that really is for local artists and that everyone can live with. ”
Van Stein says he sees the sign as a place for people to take pictures in its unique spot in the city and reflect back on the aviation and development of the historic waterfront around Stearns Wharf.
” It evokes a response, they can appreciate it, they can learn about the history, they can imagine the Santa Barbara Golden era and it puts things into context, ” said Van Stein.
