Father-son artists paint mural at new downtown apartments

PHOENIX (KSAZ) - A popular Valley mural artist and his son are making their mark at a new apartment complex in downtown Phoenix.

The finishing touches were applied to the vibrant mural at Proxy 333, at 3rd & McKinley Streets. The colorful spray paint work, made by artist Such Styles and his son, Champ Styles.

"It truly is like clay. I'm dropping colors, adding colors. I'm taking colors away and I'm beginning to shape the buildings behind me, the dimensions and then we do the lighting," explained Such Styles.

He's drawing from the history of downtown Phoenix to create this artwork.

The building once held a flower warehouse and a paint supply store, that featured some fondly-remembered public art.

"And on the outside of the floral shop, they had a mural that had flowers and this woman's head," said Claudia Gerster, president of Creative License International. "When the building was razed, some of the local art community was not very happy they were losing that mural."

So Styles and his son worked to develop a design theme -- inspired by that original mural.

"Once we get started on creating, it's hard for us to get away. We want to finish. We want it done right," Styles said.

The artist and his son worked day and night -- sometimes until midnight -- finishing the mural in seven working days.

"Tenants here can have something to look at it, something to remember and perhaps create memories," he said. How many selfies are going to be done in front of it? How many birthday parties? How many celebrations or proposals? It's an accomplishment when you step back and look at that and say that's what I was aiming for."

This is one of five murals being painted at Proxy 333.