Designed on Surface: Luck Dragon mural graces wall in Brooklyn

Sometimes things just click into place and you have to appreciate the beauty in them. When we started looking for walls to support the Designed on Surface program in partnership with Jasper Wong we had a pretty good idea of the artists we wanted to work with based on their style, their approach to graffiti, and their creativity.

We also knew roughly where we wanted to set up camp. I spoke with Jasper dozens of times in the weeks leading up to the first mural being painted and we had our eyes on Bushwick in Brooklyn, New York right from the start.

We also were keen on working with Dave Ross, better known as Persue. We found a fantastic 100-foot-long wall in Bushwick, at Porter Ave and Grattan Street, and when Persue showed him his mural drawing, the building owner was ecstatic. Turns out he is a Chinese-American and Persue’s characters were riding the magic luck dragon the entire length of the building.

Dave comes from a long line of accomplished artists and recently moved to NYC, the literal Home of the family brand. His background couldn’t be more broad, ranging from apparel to graphic designer and muralist.

Dave used all 350 cans at his disposal in a monster effort to complete the mural in just two days.

Dave has been doing graffiti for a long time. He says himself that 20 years ago there wasn’t much good that came from wielding a can of spray-paint, but today there are outdoor galleries and acclaimed artists that are bringing their own esthetic and new beauty to tired walls, fences, and rooftops all over the world. Working with Dave, it blows my mind how his characters and style come to life on his mural and transform a city block.

I love that Surface Book is a part of Dave’s work and allows him to express himself more freely. We are thrilled to see his first book about Bunny Kitty hitting the shelves soon. Dave worked on this project for a long time with his mom, with him doing the illustrations and editing in collaboration with her. Using Surface, he has already started the next installment in the Bunny Kitty series.

We documented the creation of Dave’s mural in Bushwick with time-lapse photography. Check out this video:

If you want to learn more about how Surface helps Persue and many other artists do great things, head on over to surface.com/art and read the stories of 17 artists creating murals all over the world.

We will be back next week with another story about artists doing great things with Surface.