Kristopher Kanaly (a.k.a. Pyramid Guy) is an artist and muralist based in Oklahoma City. As co-founder of Plaza Walls and president of OMS for nine years, Kanaly helped shape the project into one of the nation’s leading mural festivals and a premier outdoor gallery in the Lower Midwest. His signature style, known as the Galactiverse, explores ultra-flat abstractions where landscapes merge with otherworldly forms. “I just want to create little worlds that capture the attention of the viewer, where they can imagine what’s beyond that ledge or through that door and forget where they’re at. Take them on a little mental trip through a maze of little vignettes. I hope it inspires people to push their creativity and imagine anything.”
Behind the mural
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I just want to create little worlds that capture the attention of the viewer, where they can imagine what's beyond that ledge or through that door and forget where they're at. Take them on a little mental trip through a maze of little vignettes. I hope it inspires people to push their creativity and imagine anything.
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It's important to allow our communities to express themselves. A simple mural can provide a sense of identity and raise the sense of pride for the residents. Also creating a free outdoor art experience, open for all to enjoy, is a pretty cool way to inspire people. It's definitely better than staring a blank wall.
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I always start with a sketch. And sometimes I'll start with a few words or a list of objects. Sometimes I'll just draw a grid on the wall and start filling in each square with a different scene, like a sailboat floating in the ocean and then the next scene is a landscape on another planet. Then I try to blend it all together into some unified world that looks like you can hop in to. I try to keep my color palette in a hyper-color mode—incorporating as many neon colors as possible to give it a digital feel, like the colors are in RGB.
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Yeah this wall was a biggun'. I created a doodle grid on the wall and then superimposed a photo of that onto my sketch. I used that image as a guide to get the sketch onto the wall. I primarily use spray paint so once I had the sketch up there I started blocking in color. Once everything is filled in, I come back with detail. I don't use any tape or guides or stencils -- just a few decades of muscle memory from using spray paint since I was a kid. My favorite cap is a leggo cap, it gives me the cleanest line with a nice rounded edge that also gives it a unified look and feel.
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I hope it still transports them to another world for a split moment and they forget they're on planet Earth. As far as what they should know about me, is that my favorite fruit is a pineapple, I wish I had an octopus as a pet, and if you were to peer into my brain, this is the world you would see.
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"The Mollusk" by Ween