Chris Veal

November 14, 2018:  Georgia native Chris Veal was born in Millidgeville.  Better employment opportunities drew Chris to Atlanta’s Old 4th Ward in 1999. Veal has always loved art. He started out doing graffiti, advanced to commissioned work and then studied graphic design at American InterContinental University. Chris is comfortable with several art media but his favorite medium is spray paint. When CommonCreativ ATL asked Chris to describe his style in a 2016 interview, here was his response. “I can’t [laughs]. It changes from piece to piece. One day it’s graffiti, the next it’s portraits, the week after might be something completely different. I really just enjoy trying new things. Sticking 100 percent to one style always sounded boring to me. This has been a downfall for me though, because I meet people all the time that never put together that the same guy who painted the birds at the Highland Bakery is the guy who’s painting Ninja Turtles in Little Five [Points]”.

One of Chris’ best known works was located on the former Marco’s Pita facing Ponce De Leon Ave. This retro pop art inspired mini mural was a commentary on the changes that the Old 4th Ward has seen in recent years. The former lower middle class neighborhood has seen an influx of more affluent gentrifiers who turn up their noses at things that have been integral to the fabric of the neighborhood for years such as the day laborers in the Home Depot parking lot. This clever piece of spray art caused quite the social media buzz.  It also caught the eye of Creative Loafing Magazine. Chris earned the following two highly coveted CL Best of awards: “Best Mural” and “Best Critique of the Urban Bourgeois”. Unfortunately all street art has a limited life span and alas this insightful mural is no longer with us.

Link to Chris Veal’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caveal/

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