Artist shares inspiration behind new Dave Grohl Alley mural in downtown Warren
Aaron Chine, an Austintown native and owner of The Box Gallery, is the artist behind the latest mural brightening up Dave Grohl Alley. But it’s not Chime’s first time painting a piece to brighten up the alley in downtown Warren and celebrate local arts.
“Dave Grohl’s dad had this idea to start this alley and make it Dave Grohl Alley, because Dave was born at Trumbull Memorial Hospital, right down the road here,” Chine said. “I was the main artist at the beginning, just to kind of get the ball rolling.”
Chine painted the first mural for Dave Grohl Alley which opened in 2009, with Grohl returning to town to perform for fan.
This latest mural is the most recent one he’s completed in Dave Grohl Alley, inspired by the bright neon Nirvana album cover, In Utero.
“For a couple of years now, I have been seeing people post pictures in different cities where they’re standing against a wall and there’s a mural of like wings behind them,” he said. "I thought it’d be cool to have something interactive like that. I also saw some videos online of guys doing tagging and making it look like neon lights, so I decided to give it a shot.”
In order to achieve the neon light effect, Chine used pink spray paint that stands out on a black background, giving the wall a glow.
Another favorite mural he’s done was for Scientific Anglers in Michigan, a chance to celebrate one of his other favorite hobbies: fly-fishing. He’s a licensed fly-fishing guide in northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania.
“Other than my family, the two things that I just absolutely love the most are being out in the woods to fly fish and art,” he said. “I never thought I could combine the two; it just kind of happened. I would take a guy on a fishing trip, and he would find out that I did tattoos, so then I would do a fishing tattoo on him. The crossover of the two worlds has been like the greatest thing in the world.”
Chine said he’s going to be working on another nature-inspired mural along the Mahoning River on Summit Street.
“There’s a sleeping giant mural there right now, and it doesn’t really represent the city anymore. Now that they’ve removed the dam, we’re really trying to expose people to the beauty of the river and get them to go over to check it out,” he said. “We’re going to put something bright, colorful and fishy, and I’m excited about it.”
