James Dean, airbrushed acrylic on wall, approx. 8 ft. tall x 5 ft.
One of the very first Hollywood Video murals, this super-sized James Dean was painted on location at the Vancouver, Washington, store, 1989.
From The Time Capsule Archive
I shared a story about my forgotten art and memories a few months back. I mentioned that I had recovered my large rolling flat file with 17 drawers full of who-knows-what and a whole lot of whatnot that had been in storage and undisturbed for a decade. In my Creative Time Capsule post, I mentioned that I might share a thing or two as I came across them.
Recently, I tripped across some old portfolio pages in a large envelope. Curious, I pulled them out, and they had a few photos from some Hollywood Video murals I painted at the very first stores in Vancouver, and Kelso/Longview, Washington stores, and Tigard, Oregon (circa 1989-90).
Seeing these brought back some great memories of painting murals on location until the wee hours of the morning, so I thought I would take a time out and include them on the website as part of my Hollywood Video Murals portfolio.
So, in chronological order as to when they where painted I’m, happy to share the following pics and memories, starting with the black and white super-sized James Dean mural (above) at Hollywood Video’s very first store in Vancouver, Washington back in 1989. Also, in that store I painted Frankenstein and his bride a bit larger than life-size.
My friend, artist Kevin Bates, was on hand to help with the first few stores and was great at painting Jessica Rabbit, Ninja Turtles, and the super-sized Academy Award golden Oscars, so I put him to work every chance I got. Together, we painted about 1,400 square feet of murals in the Vancouver store, but sadly, I have hardly any photos from back then. If I can ever find them, or they find me, I’ll post pics of my epic first store with huge murals of Jaws, Rambo with his grenade launcher and a jet fighter overhead, and a dozen mini-murals above the video racks. There were a lot of fun murals created and good times had in designing and creating that first store, which set the tone for many stores to follow.
The second Hollywood Video store to was in Kelso/Longview, Washington, about an hour north of Portland.
Hollywood Video mountain, Kelso/Longview, Washington. 1989, acrylic on wall, approx. 5 ft. tall x 9 ft.
I painted the Hollywood mountain and other murals on location as the store was launching its grand opening. For added fun, the E.T. bicycle is flying in front of the moon. Fortunately, I had my buddy, Kevin, with me to help paint some murals as well.
Other murals painted in that store included a John Wayne, Poltergeist, Dirty Harry and other characters in a long filmstrip over the video racks.
The third store to open was in Tigard, Oregon, where I was offered a lot of wall space for murals. For starters,I painted a ten by ten foot mural titled “Super CSR” featuring a Customer Service Representative (Mark S.) proudly holding a VHS movie box with the Hollywood Video logo.
Laurel and Hardy mural at Hollywood Video, Tigard, Oregon. 1990, airbrushed acrylic, approx. 3-1/2 ft. tall x 6 ft.
One of my favorite murals from the Tigard store, also painted on location, featured a few of my favorite legends of the big screen, specifically Groucho Marx, Indiana Jones, Roger Rabbit, and Jessica Rabbit (Roger and Jessica were painted by Kevin). Visible from inside the store near the checkout counter, this mural covered a hundred square feet of colorful art.
Groucho, Indiana Jones, Roger Rabbit, and Jessica Rabbit at Hollywood Video, Tigard, Oregon. 1990, acrylic on wall, approx. 9 ft. tall x 12 ft. wide.
While painting at the Tigard store, Mark Wattles (Hollywood Entertainment CEO) offered me a position as their full-time artist and designer. With a mission to grow Hollywood Video, my travel to stores beyond Portland to paint murals were now behind me. Soon after accepting my position with Hollywood Video, I set up a paint studio at their corporate offices and most of my murals were painted on heavy canvas and installed in the stores. Over the following five years, I painted dozens of murals as we opened new stores throughout Oregon and Washington, becoming the second largest video chain in America. I never took many photos back then, but what I have can be seen here. If I find any more, I’ll share them here.
Mural creation dates are approximate, but all the murals featured in this post were painted from 1989 to 1990 by artist A.D. Cook for Hollywood Video.
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A.D. is an artist who started drawing at a young age. Throughout his life, he has worked with different creative tools in traditional and digital art and design. His art and writings have been showcased in various publications such as Airbrush Action Magazine, Airbrush Magazine, American Art Collector, Art & Beyond, Dream To Launch, Easyriders, Las Vegas City Life, Las Vegas Weekly, L’Vegue, ModelsMania, Quick Throttle, and The Ultimate Airbrush Handbook.
