Artist MTO Installs New Mural At Architectural Salvage

Dr. Robin is a conversation starter that's about to listen to the heartbeat of the Sarasota art scene.

And owner Jesse White is ready for it, but he's not sure if the doctor, created by artist MTO, is going to give the neighborhood a jolt or if talk will flat line.

"I really feel I have to respect this artist, and I have to try to let people work through their emotions regarding it," White said. "I feel like it's important to get into the conversation because if this is a new way to have art in the community, you can't put things up and then pull it down and do that kind of thing. There has to be some sort of way of working through it."

French-born and current German resident MTO swooped into Sarasota last week to put up his newest mural in Central Cocoanut. It's about 35 feet tall and 45 feet wide.

That fell through, but last month Sarasota Chalk Festival founder Denise Kowal approached White about her idea of adding more murals throughout the neighborhood, which was originally supposed to be part of a post-Fast Life mural effort. He gave MTO a blank slate and didn't commission the piece, White said.

The artist was flying to Sarasota anyway because of a prior commitment for more murals related to the post-Fast Life effort, and considering Gerber's departure from the venture, the tone of the work changed, Kowal told ThisWeekInSarasota:

“The reality was that MTO was still coming, so we moved forward with another project for Going Vertical. It’s an entirely different piece than what he would have done, but I’m sure as to some of the energy behind it, the artist is speaking out about how he feels he’s been treated in some ways by certain people. It certainly is not directed at the community,” she said.

Now it's on the wall of a nearly 10-year-old business that sells salvaged items from estate sales and other acquired items from around the world for folks to buy for their home or pleasure.

To help get people talking, White said he will install a chalkboard on the wall wanting the community to write what they think of the piece and will post the reactions on Architectural Salvage’s Facebook page.

"Frankly, I'm ready to buy the coffee and donuts and sit down and figure this thing out because I think it's really exciting," White said.

Comparisons between the Tube Dude situation and this one are already being drawn and 

For better or for worse, this isn't what White had envisioned. 

"They showed me a thumbnail of what they were planning to do, and I approved it," White said. "I knew there was going to be a doctor with a stethoscope. I knew it was going to be a black man. I knew all that in advance, but I did not know some of the details that showed up at the last minute last night.

"I'm thrilled with everything except for these last details, which I feel are almost personal in terms of … It appears that the artist is upset that his art was taken down and blames the Tube Dude and blames the city for that, so there's this reaction you see in this piece that you see in those two elements."

Admittedly, the angry Tube Dude in the doctor's glasses and the name tag touting Dr. Robin's credentials as a "Specialist For Leaders And Haters Bull**** Crisis City of Sarasota" make White uncomfortable.

"To have a piece of artwork offend the city or my neighbor is upsetting to me, and yet I also feel that struggle in a way is important as art," White said.

White just doesn't know which way to turn and how this will unfold as he said it's the classic case of saying you would defend an idea, or in this case, controversial art, but when having to deal with it first hand, the answers aren't so clear.

"Now I have a controversial art piece, and I feel that conflict. I feel discomfort because it doesn't necessarily say what I want it to say," White said. "It says what the artists wants to say. And so, what do I do?"

He's inclined to leave it up "for a while" and have people react to it.

White has seen Fast Life mural rise and fall with media and community attention in between, and he doesn't know the backstory of why it was installed and removed, but has talked to Tube Dude owner Scott Gerber to get his feeling as well as to let him know that MTO had apparently taken a shot at his business.

The profanity on the piece is up to the community, White said, and he'll wait and see how the city will react to any pressure placed on making a decision. 

At the same time, Gerber has started his own mural with a Tube Dude hanging off the wall just to laugh at the entire mural ordeal he's gone through, he told the Herald Tribune.

But the Tube Dude references in the new mural are not a laughing matter for Gerber, who shared with The Herald-Tribune his displeasure:

"We gave MTO a tremendous amount of support," Gerber said. "I stood up for this guy even though I didn't care for the message in his piece. I got in a lot of trouble, and it jeopardized my company and my employees. It was a negative influence toward my business and for him to mock us I thought was really immature."

White is left to defend or deflect MTO's latest piece in the community and doesn't mind it so much. MTO doesn't comment on his artwork.

"Most artists don't have an opinion of their own pieces. They want you to interact with their work," White said. "If it stirs you, it's an important work."

"He shouldn't have to take the heat for the work that he did, but it does give me the opportunity to say, 'Well, it's his work,'" White said laughing, bringing some levity to the situation.

So, how does White keep upbeat despite the serious tone much of MTO's murals have taken?

"Every time I get worried about the reaction it may present, I go out there and just look at the craft," White said. "You cannot deny that this is amazing art. You cannot deny that this guy with cans of spray paint has been able to create this image on this building."

And, it helps, too, to have some innocence in an at times rugged conversation.

"I think I'm being incredibly naive, but what the hell," White said. "It's a big scary world out there, but I have to believe in people."