FollowRick Sinnett is a full-time muralist who paints vibrant, Oklahoma-inspired murals across the state. From the incredible converted silos of the Rocktown Gym to the 420 E. building in Norman (which received huge social media attention), Sinnett’s murals are certainly making an impact. I sat down with him in his favorite coffee and breakfast spot in OKC, Red Cup, for an interview.
What goes into deciding where to put a mural?
I’m strategic about the location of these murals. A lot of people have to make a point to drive out and see them, especially the more rural locations. It’s kind of neat through this mission to realize there’s all kinds of fingers that come off of these things as far as economic impact. It becomes less about the mural for people, and more about the journey to find the mural, and the adventure in between.
It definitely adds something new to the city. Do you think it inspires other people?
That’s what I hope to do, no matter what I’m doing. To inspire people to think creatively, at least. That’s really what it’s about.
I love the one next to Stash in my hometown of Norman. It’s just gorgeous.
Yeah that was a fun one. After we decided to put a mural there, the people from Stash checked out some of my art and mentioned they had a favorite, not really in reference to doing the mural, just kind of in general. So I asked if I could paint that one instead. It has elephants in it, which is cool. I was thinking about the mastodons that were here in Oklahoma. I like to sit in the country and think, what did this place look like four hundred thousand years ago?
Putting up a massive mural is quite an ordeal. What’s it like working with clients? Is it received well?
I’m pretty blessed. Most people just let me go for it and do what I want. For me to be able to do that here in Oklahoma, especially the rural communities, it’s great. There’s nothing like my art in those areas. I’m about to paint one in Enid—the state butterfly—and there’s nothing like that in Enid. The people are really embracing it.
That’s amazing. People like to make something their own, so it’s cool to see towns embracing it. Art is exploding all over the globe lately, it seems.
Absolutely. When I finished the Stash painting in Norman, someone tagged me in a picture on Instagram. It was two girls from out-of-state standing in front of my mural, and they decided to post it. Like, they just pulled off the highway on their way somewhere. The picture had over forty-four thousand ‘likes’ and tons of comments about Norman. That means forty-four thousand people saw this from all over, which is crazy. Social media really takes art to a whole new level.
Yeah, I’ve been discussing this with other artists, too. Social media has allowed people to put their stamp on art, despite not being inside a gallery. Do you think it’s a new age for art?
Definitely. If you look at the explosion of public art, murals are one of the fastest growing aspects of it. It’s become known as a museum without walls. I like to hashtag ‘art for the people’ when I take pictures on social media. I just think, you know, not everyone has the opportunity to make it to a museum. I’ve always been this way, I’ve owned galleries and this and that. It’s one thing to be in a gallery with like-minded people, that’s cool, but in a way, there’s a stagnant aspect to it. I’ve always wanted to know how we can grow and cross-migrate. People you’d think might never enjoy art see this public art, and they love it. I see this cultivating a whole new group of on-lookers of art.
What about in schools? When I was a kid, our schools were covered in murals. That seemed to go away for a while. Are schools embracing mural art more than they used to?
I’ve got a mural painting scheduled in a Norman school, actually, so yeah, I believe schools are coming back to murals, too. It’s pretty cool.
How did you get into mural painting?
A historian in downtown Tulsa said something to me about painting a series of my art down Route 66 and I just kind of devised a way to make it happen. I’d never painted a mural before, but after my experience of painting that first one, I knew this was my calling. Public art gave me an opportunity to engage with the community and I just loved that. I saw how people engaged with the art, too, and it just fed my soul. It’s one thing to just pay the bills selling art, but it’s another thing to feel like you’re doing something for the good of mankind.
So you do this full time now?
Yeah, basically. I also teach a mural painting class to kids during spring break. It’s called SixTwelve, and it’s down here in the Paseo District. It’s incredible. SixTwelve teaches kids about gardening and art, stuff like that. Teaching kids is definitely something I love to do. I spoke to a hundred and fifty second graders recently, it was so fun. And I don’t preach art, I preach being creative in everything you do. That’s the foundation.
To see more of Rick’s art, check out siloartproject.com.
You can also follow him on instagram: mothman333.
Written by Shyla Stokes | Photography by Emily Brashier
