Hermosa Mural artist aims to show multiple perspectives
Artist Timothy Smith blends into one of his signature perspective-shifting murals. Smith will begin work on the ninth entry in the Hermosa Beach Mural Project next month. Photo courtesy Timothy Smith
When Timothy Smith was a kid, he took a road trip on California’s coast with his mother, and saw something along Highway 101 that stayed with him for the rest of his life: a large, space-themed painting by the side of the road, with astronauts floating in space. Even as a child, Smith was struck by the fact that public space would be devoted to something that seemed to have no other purpose than to brighten the days of people passing by.
Years later, Smith has a chance to do the same thing for people heading down Pier Plaza in Hermosa Beach. Smith has been selected to paint the ninth entry in the Hermosa Beach Murals Project, titled “Beatnick Alley.”
Smith’s work will depict Hermosa’s bohemian history as embodied in three of its iconic businesses: The Lighthouse Cafe, Either/Or Bookstore, and The Insomniac. (While the Lighthouse, a headquarters for West Coast Jazz, is still open after 70 years in business, the Insomniac has been closed for more than 50 years and Either/Or shuttered its Pier Avenue store about two decades ago.) The mural will take up 615 square feet on the west side of Waterman’s at Beach Drive. Smith will work on the mural for six weeks, beginning next Wednesday. The unveiling will be in late October.
Smith, who lives in Dana Point and grew up in Los Angeles, said he has had friends in Hermosa, and visited over the years. He was also familiar with the area thanks to his passion for punk rock.
Smith has done other large murals and museum installations, including a 2017 mural in downtown Laguna Beach. He plans to explore his fascination with perspective in the Hermosa mural. The early sight of a space-themed mural left a deep impression on him, and he reads widely on theoretical physics.
In the past, this has meant attempting to situate the viewer of the mural in such a way that all angles — up, down, front, and back — are visible from one spot. It also means that past, present, and future blend seamlessly. He is fascinated, he said, by space and time, and the sense of “different dimensions interacting in one.”
“The basic philosophy is a sense of universal open-mindedness: trying to understand things from everyone else’s point of view and not getting too caught up in your own,” he said.
The bohemian-themed mural is well-matched for the technique because it offers the opportunity to focus on outsiders’ perspectives. Smith said he was drawn to the possibility of a mural connected to the Beats, the literary movement of Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey and others he read and embraced growing up.
Smith’s work will be the ninth and second-to-last entry in the Hermosa Beach Murals Project, a volunteer-led effort to capture Hermosa’s history and culture by painting 10 murals throughout the city in 10 years. As with the other efforts, “Beatnick Alley” will be financed entirely through donations.
George Schmeltzer, a mural project board member, said Smith’s idea recalled the trompe l’oeil technique, in which objects painted on a flat surface seem to pop into three dimensions, seen on the mural project’s third entry, John Pugh’s depiction of West Coast Jazz at the intersection of Hermosa Avenue and 11th Court.
“We thought he captured it. You’ve got to find some way to bring together those three sites, and it’s not easy to do, because they don’t exactly all overlap. We thought he did it in a pretty honest way that will be interesting to the general public,” Schmeltzer said.