Compton brings art on a large scale to welcome Linden visitors
Maybe it was working on the Christmas on the River floats when he was in high school or creating the iconic rooster cutout for Rooster Day.
It could have been the summer he worked for Kerns Studios in New Orleans creating Mardi Gras floats.
Whatever piqued his interest, Banks Compton now creates art on a large scale. The latest is a mural on the side of a building owned by Pat and Lee Akins. It welcomes people to Linden as they travel south on U.S. Hwy. 43.
Compton enjoyed art even as a young boy. He started selling pet portraits while a student at Demopolis High School. “That’s how I got enough money to buy my first car,” he said. “I realized I could make money doing art, and I really liked doing art.”
As a junior, he applied to the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design and was accepted with the stipulation that he earn a GED first. Banks left DHS, got his GED and became the youngest student in his class – and the only one from Alabama in the 2,500-member student body.
RISD, he said, is a very selective art school located next to Brown University. It draws students from around the world, but he found that his fellow students had a very poor and stereotypical view of the South.
The rigorous four years at RISD gave him an appreciation of art history and “how to see the world and translate that visually into my art.”
Is also taught him the importance of completing projects in a timely manner. The Linden mural took only six days, helped in part by good weather. He also had the assistance of three friends on one day who pitched in: Keisha Bruno and Noah Hay, former DHS classmates, and Lindsay Timmons.
While at art school Compton served an internship with David Monn of New York, one of the premier event planners in the country. The young intern designed special event décor for projects in the Hamptons, Rockefeller Center and at the Hearst Castle.
“There I fell in love with creating large scale art that is meant for people to interact with,” he said.
His senior year in Italy was cut short because of COVID, but he completed his studies online and earned his degree in May 2021.
Before the pandemic decimated the hospitality industry, Compton a full-time job offer from Monn. When that fell through he found himself jobless and with a loss of direction.
He joined up with two friends in the same situation, and the three of them started a trip across country, eventually landing in Phoenix, AZ. The friends returned home, but Compton stayed and became steeped in a unique landscape totally different from anything he had experienced before.
He found roommates and volunteered to help muralist Taylor Victoria complete one of her commissions. She mentored him and was so pleased with his work that she has hired him to work with her on other projects.
His own work is becoming noticed, and when he returns to Phoenix later this month, he will begin another mural in Tempe. That said, he still is in contact with Monn and has done some work for the event planner.
When Compton was commissioned for the Linden mural, he was asked to design a sign of welcome. He came up with several options, “and this is what we decided on.” A fan of late American regionalist artist Thomas Hart Benton, Compton took inspiration from his work to create the whimsical landscape.
Riding on the lift to paint the mural appealed to the boy in him, Compton admits, but he really enjoyed the people that stopped to say hello. He hopes the mural will be part of the efforts to revitalize Linden. It may spark other commissions as well since several groups approached him while he was painting.
Compton has one more job to do before he returns to Arizona. His parents, Hunter and Lisa Compton, have commissioned him to paint a small mural on the south of their house.
Follow Compton at www.bankscompton.com; on Instagram at http://bankscompton.com/instagram, and on Facebook.