KOI JOY: Eau Claire’s Largest Mural Decorates Apartment Building
artist Jaden Flores says this mural project took about five weeks to complete
Sawyer Hoff, photos by Andrea Paulseth |
With so many murals in Eau Claire, have you ever wondered what the biggest one in town is? The answer is the “Koi Mural” located on the side of the Howard Apartment Building (2580 Stein Blvd., Eau Claire). Coming in at approximately 3,000 square feet, this mural is reeling folks in from all over the community.
Designed and painted by Jaden “Jayflo” Flores – with some help from Alura Schroeder – the mural was in progress in July and August 2022, making it the longest Jayflo has ever worked on painting a single mural project. With the vast size of the mural, Jayflo couldn’t simply project the image onto the side of the building to paint over, so each koi and wave was hand-drawn. Drawing alone took two days to complete.
Forty cans of spray paint, 10 gallons of paint, an industrial sprayer, and a boom lift later, the “Koi Mural” was complete. It’s the largest mural in the city and was created by one of the most prolific muralists in the area. Jayflo estimates that he’s painted between 25-30 murals in Eau Claire alone, and even though the winter season will halt outdoor murals, he will continue to work on painting projects within many businesses (for example, he recently painted the mural inside Eau Claire Vintage).
As a full-time artist, Jayflo enjoys his client work but also enjoys simply painting what is in his sketchbook, like he did this year over at Banbury Place. As a seasoned street artist, he also has ambitions of potentially hosting a street art-style festival in Eau Claire, much like those he has been part of in Minneapolis.
“I get a lot of satisfaction out of (painting murals) because I think of it as sculpting,” Jayflo said. “The way I paint, I pretty much sculpt out of nothing. You start with that raw block and then just chisel away until you got that beautiful image.”
You can check out the Koi Mural at 2580 Stein Blvd., Eau Claire and anyone interested in hiring Jayflo for art can reach out to him on Instagram (@jayflo99).
