Hugo Crosthwaite

NTC Foundation’s Art in Public Places Committee has selected six temporary art projects as part of a new rotating program titled Installations at the Station. These widely diverse, site-specific outdoor art installations will continue to help transform the historic 100-acre former Naval Training Center site into a thriving arts and culture destination for the community.

Hugo Crosthwaite’s Column A and Column B: A Continual Mural Narrative Performance refers to both the 16 columns of Barracks 14, where the murals are painted, and to a concpet known as comparative narratives. "Ideas can be judged in juxtaposition to one another by the different people whose opinions will determine them. Ideologies, intrinsically neutral, are given power—by those who are interpreting them. Column A and Column B: A Continual Mural Narrative Performance is just an idea—until someone gives it personal weight and meaning," Crosthwaite explained. "I look forward to creating an improvised mural performance in a public, communal place that will lead to a conversation about the nature and impermanence of art. At its core, the project is simply about a man, a ladder and a paint brush." 

Crosthwaite lives and works between Tijuana, Los Angeles, and New York. Inspired by the heritage and turmoil of border regions, Crosthwaite works in a style that brings together portraiture of ordinary people, comic book characters, street signage, urban facades, mythological references, and contemporary subjects into dense and layered compositions. This mixture creates feelings of chaos and spontaneity, reflecting the frenetic urban settings of border towns like Tijuana and San Diego. 

Visitors were invited to watch and engage in conversation with the artist as he painted. These murals further transform the monochromatic, rigid former military base into a creative space that better reflects the growing arts and cultural destination.

To learn more visit NTCFoundation.org

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