You probably know him as Aurailieus Artist, or that guy who paints the robot murals. Mark Stevens is his other name, the Jimmy Olsen to his Superman. However you think of him, get to know him a little better over the next seven questions.
Tell us about your artist name — why do you use it?
The name Aurailieus came about in high school, where my and my friends were the kids always getting picked on, so we kind of formed like this close group of friends and fellow weirdos so we could fight back. There were a lot of gangs around — not like gangs in documentaries, selling drugs and doing drive-bys, but gangs like, if you went to the wrong place you would get roughed up a bit. And my name is Mark… Anyhow, all of my friends went to see the Russel Crow Gladiator movie, and since then, whenever they saw me they'd greet me in this pretty impressive Roman gladiator voice "Marcus Aurelius" while banging their fist on their chest. It stuck.
The first mural I did locally was a very shitty one next to Nova 535…
How did sad robot come about?
Sad Robot isn't flushed out yet as a character, all I know is that he exists in the same universe as Bob The Robot Prince of Denmark. While Bob is a creation of man — well, me — the Sad Robot seems to have his origins in space and is more of an observer. Maybe he was charged to take stock of the human civilization of earth and found this other sentient robot guy in Bob, I'm not sure — that story hasn't been written yet.
What's the first mural you painted locally?
The first mural I did locally was a very shitty one next to Nova 535 when it first opened in… I want to say 2008. But the first relevant one is when I painted Bob the Robot Prince of Denmark behind Bar@548 holding a sign that read "I hope SHINE has an open call next year" which I'm pretty sure created some strife but also had the guys behind SHINE at least open it a bit up which is a positive in my books. I love artists here having accessibility to things. I love when arts organizations serve artists instead of themselves ;p
Where else (other than Tampa Bay) can people see your work?
Me, Suarez and Zulu Painter went down to Miami last year during Art Basel. We held a fundraising event where we pretty much gave pieces away to fund ourselves down there — and we each did about three murals each — so in various places in Miami, including the Puerto Rico Hope project in Wynwood, where about 30 artists muralized an entire parking garage to raise awareness for Puerto Rico's destruction last hurricane season.
How do you prep for a mural?
I really don't do a lot of murals mainly because I'm really only interested in painting what i want to paint and that's a hard sell but when I am lucky enough to get one I draw it out, maybe color it — then I go t to Artissins, which is hands-down the best place to get spray paint and helpful tips on how to knock out a piece. Then i just put it on the wall — no projectors, nothing fancy, just use it like a very, very huge canvas — and let the magic happen.
How does the St. Pete mural market compare with how other places compensate artists for murals?
I'm not sure how other markets are but I feel in St. Pete the market isn't good — every artists wants to do murals and all the people who want murals naturally only want to hire people who have already done, well, most of the murals already in town. I may be wrong but I feel like the competition drives the prices down. I mean, so many times I get a mural job, we agree on a design, we agree on a price then — crickets — then a month goes by and hey, look, that place has a mural, cool. Someone did it for super cheaper, or something. Which is OK — at least someone gets some awesome art and the public has something to enjoy.
Who is your favorite local artist?
Oh, I love them all even if they're a dick and we butt heads, I still love them — what we have in St. Pete is the culmination of every artist here; a lot of people like to attribute what is happening here to a few artists but that's a mistake, it is really every one of us that is making such good things happen. For a more focused answer, I really want to say Brook Lyn, just because I watched her art transform and grow and become really profound in an unwavering unapologetic ill sort of way and I relate to that, and her art is just constantly surprising and amazing.
Follow his adventures at aurailieus.com or on Instagram.
Contact Cathy Salustri here.
This article appears in Apr 12-19, 2018.