Local Artists Hope to Pay Tribute to One of Mount Washington's Favorite Sons

When Zach Christensen and his friend Jack Rohman embarked on their guerilla art campaign in the hills of Mount Washington last summer, they made sure to keep their identities secret from the neighborhood’s greater population.

Christensen, Rohman and fellow artists Alec Christensen, who is Zach's brother, and Robert Sipchen would work together on the canvas mural throughout the daylight hours and then adhere their work to the walls at night.

It wasn’t because they were afraid of being caught, Zach Christensen said. The artists weren’t exactly vandalizing the concrete hill reinforcement on Mount Washington Drive, because the wheat paste on canvas method they developed didn’t cause any permanent damage.

Instead, Christensen said they liked being able to observe reactions to their work incognito, to hear what neighborhood residents really thought about the project.

“It was very interesting to see reactions from the neighborhood,” Christensen said. “People would just stand there and marvel.”

As is the case with most clandestine street-art installations, the mural eventually disappeared one day in August.

The residents of Mount Washington were faced with a far more six months later, when on Jan. 31, the 21-year-old Roman took his own life after a debilitating battle with schizophrenia.

Now, Christensen is launching an effort to erect another mural on the concrete wall. This time, though, he hopes to do it with the blessing of the city so it can stand as a lasting tribute to his friend Jack.

Christensen said he has already met with officials from the city’s cultural affairs department, and on Monday evening he went before the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council (ASNC) in an effort to earn a letter of support. In June, he’s scheduled to meet with the ASNC’s Mount Washington local issues subcommittee to again pitch the idea.

“I’m just trying to rally community support,” Christensen said. “Jack was very passionate about the mural, and it’s something we really want to see happen.”

The mural would most likely replicate the one that the young artists created last summer, which consisted of distinct surreal images pasted on each section of the 500-yard hill reinforcement.

A graduate of the University of South California’s School of Fine Art, Christensen said he’s still playing with what the mural might become should he receive the permission of the city. He may paint it directly on the wall this time, or return to the canvas method.

Either way, he said, mural will be a tribute to Rohman’s last great artistic endeavor.

Rohman was not able to return to school at Sarah Lawrence in Bronxville, NY,  following that summer, Christensen said , as the disease made it increasingly difficult for him to function.

“This was his last outlet for his creativity,” Christensen said. “Even though this is a memorial project, I don’t think our intentions are to make this a blatant response to his death.  I think the idea is that we are resurrecting something that he loved.”