John Cerney agricultural labor cutouts at "The Farm"
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Sandalwood
N 36° 38.151 W 121° 40.083
10S E 619076 N 4055303
Probably the largest single collection of giant John Cerney murals (these particular ones are what he calls giant mural cutouts) at "The Farm" just off Hwy-68 between Spreckels Blvd. to the north and Foster Rd. to the south.
Waymark Code: WMAHFE
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 01/16/2011
Views: 8
These wonderful giant John Cerney painted plywood cutout murals date back as early as 1995 when this was primarily a lettuce farm packaging under the Bunny label. The owner was (still is) a Mr. Bunn -- hence the "Bunny" label. A tour guide explained that Mr. Bunn no longer operates the fields but has leased the majority of the acreage to a large corporation -- holding back just the sliver of property along Hwy-68 where the cutouts and "The Farm" are.
Most of the cutouts were refurbished by John Cerney just a few months before we took these photos. That explains the exceptionally bright colors. The old red "Massolo Trucking" truck loaded with brand-name produce boxes is dirty and faded and in need of restoration. The brand names were real back when this was originally painted and the "Massolo Trucking" company is still in business hauling produce off Salinas farms.
The truck was created in 1997 to bring in some money for John Cerney (he's a commercial artist). Local growers paid to have their labels on the truck. At that time this truck was about 1/4 mile north of its present location on another property -- the property where he painted his very first outdoor mural on the end of a barn upon graduating from college in 1983. That mural has changed several times over the years and is displayed in another waymark in this category (WM5MZ6 "Foxy Fresh Vegetables mural -- Salinas, California").
The coordinates for this waymark are for the group of 4 cutouts picking lettuce with my wife Sandy standing in front. The 4th cutout is just off camera to the right. Coordinates for the other cutouts are included with their individual photos and captions -- or will be when I figure out how to append that data.
The section of land where these cutouts are now is an educational organic farm. The organic produce grown here is sold in The Farm's little road-side market and guides lead school groups and public groups on farm tours through the fields. You learn all about organic farming.
We learned that the rows of bright colorful planted flowers between the rows of fruit and vegetables are ladybug homes. Apparently ladybugs don't like living where they eat -- so they live in the flowers next to the plants they eat the aphids from.
We also learned that the only thing this farm has found that keeps birds from decimating the crops is a propane powered cannon that goes off every few minutes and scares the birds away.
Sandy and I visited in September of 2010 and took the farm tour -- and got to pick and eat all the fresh organic vegetables and fruit we wanted directly from the plants. They specialize in heirloom vegetables but also had incredibly wonderful organic strawberries when we were there.
The two guys looking out over the fields (Farmer & Irrigator) were commissioned in 1995 and were John's first giant cutouts.
John Cerney's work is a combination of 2-D murals painted on flat buildings, 3-D objects attached to the flat murals (such as real window awnings attached over fake painted windows), flat 2-D plywood cutouts added to the sides and in front of flat murals painted on buildings (such as people, animals, cars, tractors), and his giant flat free-standing plywood cutouts placed along major highways. Although all his paintings are flat and 2-D, he skillfully uses shadows and modeling and foreshortening to give a vivid 3-D appearance.
John's early works and characters were mostly life-sized, but starting around 1995 the works became larger than life -- but still photographically realistic looking.
John's outdoor art can be found in several states, but by far the highest concentration is here in Salinas where John was born and raised and has his commercial studio.
If the faces on John Cerney's work look real -- that's because they are! While we were photographing these, a dusty pickup roared up and the driver stuck his head out the window and pointed to the guy bending over in the blue shirt and white floppy hat and yelled, "You like that? It's me!" And by golly, it does look like him 14 or so years ago. We were so surprised and excited we never asked him his name.
City: Salinas
Location Name: The Farm
Artist: John Cerney
Date: 9/23/10
Media: Acrylic paint on plywood.
Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]
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Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and description of your visit. One original photo of the mural must also be submitted. GPSr photo NOT required.