A beloved NoDa mural was mistakenly covered. The artist created an evolved iteration of the mural in its place
When you walk past the newest iteration of Bloom, Osiris Rain hopes it's comforting.
For years, a bright mural found at the intersection of North Davidson and 35th streets welcomed you into Charlotte's NoDa neighborhood. A man and a woman, each wearing a Queen Charlotte crown, were on either side with a single lotus between them.
The popular mural, dubbed "Bloom" by the community, was a mainstay in the arts district – until it was mistakenly painted over.
'The third and hopefully final iteration'
In March, muralist Osiris Rain was working on a project on the other side of Charlotte when he said his phone went wild with notifications. Texts, emails and social media messages all notified him: His mural was gone. A company contracted to paint over a nearby advertisement mural instead accidentally covered over Bloom.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: NoDa mural mistakenly painted over, artist confirms
Rain said the outpouring of support from the community after the error was made was humbling.
“It was quite nice to see how much [the mural] meant to the community,” Rain said. “And it wasn't just another mural – there's no such thing as ‘just another mural.’ But I liked that it's become attached and synonymous with the neighborhood over the years that it's been here, or was here.”
BEFORE AND AFTER: Use the slider bar below to see what the mural looked like before it was mistakenly painted over and what the community saw once the company covered it up
He said prior to this, he didn’t realize how important the mural was to people – especially since the mural originally started as an ad for Stella Artois.
In its first form, Bloom featured a man and a woman clinking two glasses of Stella Artois in cheers. Once the lease on the ad ran out, Rain repainted it on his own dime to fit in with the community better. He covered the glasses with a lotus. The new iteration of the mural served as a sort of peace offering to NoDa, Rain said.
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That’s the version that lasted for years in the neighborhood. After it was accidentally covered, Rain got to work on planning what would come next.
“I'm back here to paint the third and hopefully final iteration of this piece,” Rain said, standing in front of his new-yet-familiar canvas.
Initially, he envisioned painting something entirely new in the space. But after working with the building owners to accommodate landscaping, existing light fixtures, and the community’s love of Bloom, they settled on a design that would serve as a rebirth of sorts for the original theme.
“This way, I get to do something relatively creative and brand new, while still making everybody happy,” Rain said.
'A symbol of purity, growth and transformation'
Rain said he’s intending to keep the name Bloom for the newest iteration.
“It was named by the community; I never actually named it,” Rain said. “And that gives, you know, the community bit more ownership in its creation, co-creation, and I like it.”
So while the new edition of the mural will have recognizable elements from previous versions, it’s definitely evolved from the starting point. For one thing, the two faces are larger and have switched positions – and one of the models is different than in the original piece.
Behind the scenes: The making of Bloom
The original iteration of Bloom was also meant to have cardinals, but they were ultimately scrapped due to timing issues, and Rain’s then-broken leg. In this new iteration, though, kingfisher birds that feed off lotus flowers flank the outside of the mural. He's also handpainted the phrase "do good - be good - work hard - play hard" to the mural, a mainstay in most of his pieces that had been absent from Bloom.
Additionally, the color scheme has changed. The first edition of the mural was largely yellow and red, then evolved to include blue hues in its second iteration. Rain said in this new and final edition, he wanted it to include more vivid and bright colors.
“I've developed a lot since then, and I personally have a preference for much more vivid and bold compositions and colors nowadays,” he said.
One of the most obvious changes with the new iteration of Bloom is the perimeter itself. Whereas the original Bloom was commissioned within a solid rectangle and the second iteration stayed within this frame, the new iteration plays more with the architecture of the building, cutting back to the original paint of the wall in parts of the mural to cause a more natural flow.
The lotus flower is a constant between the second and third iterations of the mural, but it’s evolved. In the newest iteration, there are two additional lotuses: the fruit of the lotus flower and the beginning blossom of the lotus flower. Rain said the three join together as a symbol of prosperity.
“The lotus as itself is a symbol of purity, growth and transformation as it comes from the mud and muck and becomes the most beautiful blossom that it can be,” Rain said. “And it's a very apt analogy for the development of NoDa.”
'I want it to be a sense of tranquility and home'
In order to bring the mural to life, Rain would get out to the location as close to sunup as possible, often working all the way to sundown. He said if he didn’t get that early of a start, he wouldn’t be able to secure parking for his van and block off the area directly in front of the mural.
The sunup-to-sundown days were often accompanied by people – friends and strangers alike – stopping to watch him paint, ask him about the process, compliment the evolution of the painting and so on. Rain has called the area home for a long time but doesn’t often get to work in NoDa. He said the opportunity to catch up with old friends and make new ones was a great part of the experience.
“I've moved around a lot,” he said. “But I always get drawn back here.”
While the first and second iterations of Bloom had blatant references to Charlotte such as the crowns made up of the Charlotte skyline and dogwood flowers composing a DNA strand, the third iteration is intended to evoke more of the essence of a community.
“This mural could exist in any community," Rain said. "It's about what community means to you. Now while it could exist in any community, it can only exist in NoDa – because this is what we're all about. And well, after all, we've been through, we deserve it."
Bloom stands at a popular intersection in the heart of Charlotte’s arts district. Rain said having a mural in such a prominent location is important due to the growing public accessibility of art. With this, he said, you can just walk down the street and take in what you see.
And as far as what you see when you walk past Bloom, Rain hopes it's comforting.
“I want it to be a sense of tranquility and home,” Rain said. “Like being at home for people that live here. That I want to be something invigorating, but also welcoming for those who don't live here who are maybe first time coming to the neighborhood and don't know what it's about. I want to be the welcome sign for people driving into the main area. To sort of set a precedent for who we are as a community. We're very inclusive, very friendly, joking, happy, you know, we're a dynamic.”
Contact Emma Korynta at ekorynta@wcnc.com and follow her on Twitter.