Austintatious Art

"More murals!"

Kerry Awn is elated. The noted artist-comedian got the word from the University Co-op that the Renaissance Market block of 23rd Street will eventually be covered with art. That's good news, considering the mural there is almost 30 years old.

Awn, along with artists Tom Bauman, Rick Turner, and a few friends, designed and painted the wall on the south side of 23rd at Guadalupe in 1974. It was the heyday of Austin's hippie era, and the mural celebrated local color, a little history, and a lot of in-jokes. Amazingly, the mural survived the decades since. That was reason enough to update the gigantic overview of Austin, previously touched up in 1982 after it was vandalized.

Kerry Awn is one of the brightest names in the golden age of Austin's poster artists. He, along with Jim Franklin, Micael Priest, Guy Juke, Danny Garrett, and Sam Yeates, among others, was responsible for the art boom of the Seventies, when posters were plenty and printing was cheap.

While the others drew primarily for the Armadillo World Headquarters, Awn's art was the indelible image of Soap Creek Saloon. His pen-and-ink freestyle was cartoony, which suited his numerous caricatures and monthly calendars. Awn produces artwork today, but is best known for his stand-up work with Esther's Follies and the Velveeta Room, as well as being longtime vocalist for the Uranium Savages.

When the time came to touch up the 23rd Street mural, Awn naturally tapped original partners Bauman and Turner, who just happened to have performed with the Savages, too. Obvious updates abound: a laptop computer, tattoo and piercing shops on Sixth Street (which didn't exist as an entertainment district in 1974), a salute to South Austin. Doug Sahm is immortalized as a postage stamp.

The centerpiece of the mural is the image floating in front of Stephen F. Austin: A dagger pierces a red heart and cuts through a ... slice of watermelon. Two roses flank the underside and a scroll reads simply, "Art of Texas."

Art of Texas is right. As Awn declares, "We're gonna paint the whole state!"