Paydirt
Mural Location: Mural Alley, on 10th Street
between I and J Streets
Paydirt, also known as Kinetik Ideas, is Anthony Padilla. Padilla is a prolific Sacramento-based artist who started drawing and painting before preschool. His aunt enrolled him in airbrush lessons at age 12 and at age 14, Padilla picked up a spray can and found freedom of motion. Once a self-described "midnight marauder," Padilla realized he could make a living creating art and has since completed hundreds of commissioned pieces. "Ultimately, my goal is to put some color on the horizon, to inject some inspiration into the void and push the boundaries of aerosol art into the future," Anthony states. "If by doing this I can make someone pause for a moment and think differently about their environment, then I've done something to make the world a more interesting place." In 2009, he began exploring the idea of combining art with function. He completed a 27'x 27' self-standing solar mural with funding from the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission and The Boys and Girls Club. His latest foray into functional sculpture is the "Solar Poppy" funded by a grant from the Crocker Art Museum. The Solar Poppy is a solar powered 8-port USB charging station. Anthony is now working on the first commercial version of the Solar Poppy for the American River College Campus. "The knowledge I have gained from working with structural and electrical engineers, contractors and fabricators further opens my mind to the possibilities of public art. Ultimately I'm planning a marriage between imagination, sculpture, nature, technology and solar power," he says. "When these ideas are combined something beautiful can bloom, helping to power the human race."