Artist Pete Hodapp’s three-story mural on the side of Viroqua Floral Mercantile draws inspiration from rural life across Southwest Wisconsin’s Driftless Region. Rising alongside a business rooted in locally grown, artisan-crafted florals, the mural is closely tied to the land and community that surround it.

I wanted this mural to feel rural to me, not in a nostalgic or postcard way, but in a way that feels lived in. The site dictated the scale, which in many ways dictated the content, or at least, how it was presented. It stretches nearly three stories high, rising up the side of the building like it grew there. At the center is a boy, holding a ball. That pose came from a real moment, from a photograph I took while running through a cornfield with a kid I know. That image stayed with me. About a year later, it found its way onto this wall.

Behind him, the corn fans out in tall, repeating rows, forming a backdrop that feels both familiar and a little surreal. I layered in other things I associate with this place: sumac, trees, clouds, and a pheasant. None of it is meant to be perfectly accurate. The colors are intentionally altered, not to create a dream world exactly, but to make the whole thing more engaging, to give it energy and movement.

I was very intentional about the way I painted the boy. I didn’t want race to be part of the conversation. I don’t want one kid to feel represented more than another, or excluded for that matter. To me, this figure could be any kid, or no kid at all. Maybe it’s every kid. Even the pheasant is painted in unexpected tones and colors. It’s there more for balance and rhythm than accuracy.

You’ll notice things don’t quite make logical sense, like the four arms. That’s partly because I just like to have fun with it. I don’t see much value in painting something exactly as it looks. If realism is the goal, a photograph already does that job really well. Painting gives us permission to push things, to exaggerate, to play.

If you’re curious to see more, my murals live across Wisconsin, there’s many in Madison to Sun Prairie, Gays Mills, and right here in Viroqua. You can also see my work at petehodapp.com.