Red Face, Blue Face, 2020
Aaron (Ezi) Underwood
Original Location: 435 Massachusetts Avenue
I did a variation of Ghost Rider to reach out to the Blerd (Black Nerd) community. We are not very well represented in anime or comics. The mural uses two major colors that are combined in order to give one cohesive piece. The red speaks out of pain, hatred, and aggression. The blue speaks out of bliss and enjoying life-being able to read comics and look up to your heroes. I chose Ghost Rider because of his stare and ability to look through you and bring the pain back to the surface.
Artist Bio
Aaron (Ezi) Underwood is a hip-hop artist from Indianapolis. He started drawing as a young age, but his passion for art bloomed when he began a scholarship from the Art Center of Indianapolis. It was there that branched out to other art forms. After he left the Arts Center, Ezi continued his art by focusing on anime and comics. He also began teaching himself digital arts and photography.
Ezi has always loved street art. Street artists like Shepard Fairey, MadC, C215, and Digital DOES inspired him to return his creativity to the community through mural art. He quickly found himself designing with spray paint on longboards, wooden furniture, and canvas shoes. One of his first large projects was done in collaboration with the Women’s Fund and the Go and Play project. Ezi volunteered to decorate one of the pianos that were being auctioned off. His Piano not only sold but was also placed in front of the convention center during the comic convention.
Ezi’s first mural was on a laundromat near 5105 English Avenue. He had to ride his bike 15 miles for the potential opportunity to paint the side of a laundromat. The owner of the laundromat gave him the job painting a simple mural with bubbles and the word Tide. After that, Ezi was determined to turn his art into a career. He has since been featured in several different galleries including Meet the Artist at Central Library.