New Britney Spears mural in Costa Mesa comments on star’s struggle with fame, freedom
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As pop icon Britney Spears seeks to be released from a 13-year conservatorship, a wall outside a Costa Mesa bar aims to commemorate the singer’s struggle with fame and fanhood and freedom in a mural to be unveiled next week.
Donkey D’s is a queer neighborhood dive bar on 19th Street near Placentia Avenue that was quietly purchased during the pandemic by Luke Nero, owner of nearby Strut Bar & Club.
Nero helped transform Strut into an unofficial local landmark in March, when he commissioned Long Beach artist and muralist David Gilmore to create a larger-than-life portrait of country legend Dolly Parton on the club’s exterior wall.
The work honored Parton, who had recently donated $1 million toward the development of a COVID-19 vaccine and was a vocal proponent of inoculation. In an interview Friday, Nero drew some comparisons between that mural and the Spears homage.
Both women are considered modern day icons by patrons, the Newport Beach resident said, and both tributes come at a time when their subjects were making national headlines for bold actions that embodied passion, courage and taking a stand.
“Britney Spears and her conservatorship is of the moment. That makes the mural come alive,” Nero said.
To create the work, Nero once more looked to Gilmore, who immediately measured the wall so he could begin to spec out the composition on his computer. The idea that came to him was a wall or a surface from behind which viewers could see Spears emerging.
“The initial thought was she’s behind a wall or something where she’s breaking through,” the artist described. “She’s not free, but she’s close.”
Given Spears’ decades-long career, Gilmore had many different versions of the chanteuse to pick from. And while he went back and forth on a couple different images, both he and Nero landed on a twentysomething version.
“It’s when she was younger, before we as a culture consumed her and sort of bled her dry,” he explained. “I think the reason she’s in the conservatorship was because we put her in there — we made it happen. We’re all a part of this.”
Gilmore applied acrylic paints with a brush to create the main figure. For the wall itself, he went for the brightest custom shade of pink Lowe’s could make to evoke bright hues often worn by Spears fans, who’ve lately demonstrated against the singer’s conservatorship under father Jamie.
Although he anticipates work will wrap by Tuesday, one key piece will be left undone for now. Above the image read the words “Conservatorship Ended,” with the date to be filled when the pop star earns her freedom, along with the hashtag #thefreebritneymural.
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“We consider this a word of warning for the future, so this doesn’t happen to anyone else,” Gilmore said.
Meanwhile, Nero plans to hold a simple unveiling the evening of Aug. 20 that may or may not include a drag performer/Spears impersonator. The idea is to raise funds for Childhood Cancer Foundation of Southern California, Inc. to honor Spears’ patronage of pediatric cancer organizations.
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