Movin’ & Groovin’ – Roger J. Williams

Go Bold or Go Home Awesomeness!  We loved this presentation of Roger J. Williams.  It had everything we wanted in it………..colour, pop art, movement and appeal.  We love that it portrayed us as a music festival and kept with our 2017 theme of Movin’ & Groovin’.  Look carefully, he’s placed four Pokemon Go characters in the mural (three that are specific to the Hilltop).  When a group of kids passed by on the Camp Chase Trail and asked if there were going to be spinners in the mural, Roger’s brain moved into full gear and the very next day there were 4 spinners scattered throughout the mural.

The completion of the mural took 8 weeks with Roger working on it constantly.  The raw cinderblock wall soaked up 30 gallons of primer (all donated by Home Depot on W. Broad).  We’ve coated the mural in 5 gallons of anti-graffiti clear coat that will help protect it from the elements.  Movin’ & Groovin’ was painted in Nova mural paint; a professional mural paint that fights the elements, goes on smoothly and pops off the wall.

The 2017 mural is 95 feet of wild and crazy, painted along the Camp Chase Trail on the Hilltop.  It’s most easily accessed off of N. Sylvan, 200 feet to the east (towards downtown).

When asked why he wanted to paint an epic mural on the Hilltop, Roger replied, “I’m doing it for the same reason that Keith Haring put all the graffiti around Brooklyn and New York.  He went outside the New York art system and politics to make his art public.  I kind of want the notoriety.  I guess I’m hoping for some trickle-down or trickle-up effect.  I want to leave a legacy.  Let’s make the Hilltop great again!”

Roger J. Williams is a professional muralist who studied in NYC with Andy Warhol, Sol Lewitt and Jean-Michel Basquiat.  His studio in Old Town East is an explosion of colour with canvases and paintings covering every square inch.  Roger is the only deconstructive artist in Columbus and we’re certainly honored to have him paint our mural.