Art-Hop Collective brings vibrant murals to game day in Green Bay

[machine beeping]

[brush whisking]

Andrew Linskens: There is a immediate endorphin release just from mark-making.

[paint stirring]

[upbeat electronic music]

Andrew Linskens: I also love the idea of giving, and having someone else, the viewer, have an experience from that art.

Andrew Linskens: My name is Andrew Linskens. I am an artist working out of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

[groovy bass music]

Andrew Linskens: I think my style tends to be a little bit more illustrative than a lot of fine artists.

Andrew Linskens: And I mostly work in acrylics, whether that’s on the side of a large building or whether it’s on a canvas. I want both to look equally the same.

Andrew Linskens: I work intuitively. I mean, I really don’t have too much of a plan. When I make a mark, I like to make a mark and move on. I don’t like to fiddle with it and keep messing with it. Once I make a mark or a gesture, I wanna move on to the next mark kind of thing.

[birds chirping]

Andrew Linskens: I love the idea of flowers and bees because there’s a symbiotic relationship that is happening there with the fertilization of the flowers and how they’re dependent on each other.

Andrew Linskens: There’s a little bit of a darker side to the flower things too. I did lose both of my parents. Y’know, my father died at a young age. I had a lot of funeral experience. We’ll put it that way. So the idea of flowers, even the smell of flowers, would always remind me of death, to be honest with you. So in a way, painting flowers kind of gives me the ability to kind of take control of that a little bit.

Andrew Linskens: And take that and make it into something that’s a little bit different, a little bit different memory than that.

[motorcycle roaring] [horn honking]

[upbeat music]

Andrew Linskens: So the Art-Hop is a collective of artists and musicians. The three main components of Art-Hop right now are myself, Gregory Frederic, and DJ RGS. And we have been working for, I think about eight years now, y’know, bringing art and music together.

Andrew Linskens: So I’ve been working with the Packers for about seven years now. And then now, for the last three seasons, we’ve been doing every home game. So we’ll welcome, y’know, the visiting team. So let’s say it’s Chicago. We’ll say “Chicago,” y’know, “versus Green Bay,” right? And we’ll allow the fans then to approach that with welcoming arms.

Andrew Linskens: On game day, we arrive about five hours before kickoff. And then, we paint for three hours prior to the game. People love it. I think it’s something very unique for Green Bay.

[camera shutters clicking]

Andrew Linskens: What does art mean to me?

Andrew Linskens: That’s an interesting question.

Andrew Linskens: Art is something that you can speak without polarization. Y’know, we live in this world where whatever you say can be, y’know, mistaken and perhaps, y’know, people can get the wrong impression very quickly. Or maybe they get the right impression. I don’t know.

Andrew Linskens: But street art is not, y’know, considered graffiti anymore. I think that allows the viewer to approach art in a way, give themselves that little moment of pause where they, y’know, have a little moment of positivity in their hectic day, you know? And I think that’s what it is. I think art can really heal. I think there’s something to that.