Traveling muralist brings funky style to East Lansing

From the San Francisco Bay Area, Rust Belt cities like Chicago, and all the way to New York City, muralist Lauren Asta has been everywhere and back again during a five-year “art tour.” Now, her gig is taking her to our neck of the woods, as she’s commissioned to paint the eastern wall — the walkway between Jolly Pumpkin’s forthcoming East Lansing location and Pinball Pete’s — of the Center City District development project in downtown East Lansing. She will begin painting in early July and is expected to be finished by August.

Her signature style is akin to intricate notebook doodles sketched by a child raised on Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon brought to life with stunning dimensions: Her East Lansing mural will be 22 feet tall and 56 feet wide. It draws comparison to the iconically energetic and playful work of legendary artist and LGBTQ activist Keith Haring — a nod Asta says she receives quite often and is very fond of.

“I do everything hand-painted; freestyle; no spray paint. I was doodling a lot, and these characters were taking form over a couple of years,” Asta said. “I had this desire to take what I was doing on a page to a larger format. I really felt it would work on a wall.”

What makes Asta unique as an artist is her constant time spent on the road. Though she has a “homebase” apartment in Chicago, she’s been anything but stationary and makes a living traveling from one commission to the next. Sometimes she’ll reside in a city for a couple of weeks; sometimes she’ll be there for a year. For Asta, above all, freedom is the name of the game.

“A little over five years ago, I had a really big job in Lincoln, Nebraska. I gave up my apartment and my full-time job and went there with just the thought of, ‘Let’s see how far this road can take me.’ I had this energy and passion to hit the road and see the world,” Asta said. “I didn’t live anywhere for four years, I was just traveling all over the country and I had a few international jobs in Mexico and Italy.”

Asta’s traveling art career really took off after her first major mural in Alameda, California, located right outside of San Francisco. “That mural really launched everything. The Bay Area means a lot to me. My parents and good friends are still there. I try to visit there as often as I can.”