Those visiting West Seattle will get a chance to view recently completed murals featuring the artwork of Kirkland artist Jesse Link.

The mural on the south side of the apartment complex at 4535 44th Ave. SW offers viewers a sense of the urban surrealism also evident in his other artwork he’s had featured at various group exhibitions and galleries throughout the state. It is his second West Seattle mural, the first one featuring a bear riding a log, on the north side of Shack Coffee in Luna Park.

“I’m a fan of surrealism,” Jesse Link said. “I like a lot of abstract stuff, too. The style kind of comes from urban art or street art but more refined.”

Moving to the Seattle area in 2007 along with his wife, Trisha, Jesse Link was born and raised near Pittsburgh, where he said he first started painting and drawing as a child. Attending the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, he studied industrial design but sought a job in commercial art.

“I thought it would be easier to find a job in that field,” he said.

Instead, he joined the Army Reserves in 2005. As soon as training was finished, he was sent to Iraq and served a tour with an engineer battalion building bridges and depots. During his downtime, he continued to dabble with painting.

“I decided it was something I wanted to pursue,” he said. “It was mostly just messing around. There was nothing there I would show anybody.”

After leaving the reserves, he moved to New Orleans, where he started a company building fences and pouring in Iraq, he said he had a lot of downtime, as well as space in a large apartment, to focus on painting. Putting together a studio there, he finally began to publicize his art.

“That was where I really started to show work to the cafes,” he said. “I got a lot of support there.”

They then decided to try something new and moved up to the Seattle area after Trisha Link got a job with Boeing.

“We’d never been up here,” he said. “We fell in love with the Northwest.”

Unaware of the Seattle art scene prior to moving, Jesse Link said initially planned to take all his artwork to California galleries.

“I wasn’t really sure that Seattle would be the best kind of place to display and sell my work,” he said.

That changed when he discovered the emerging underground art scene. A successful showing of his art on Capital Hill, he said, made it clear that Seattle offered opportunities. Since then he’s been invited to juried art festivals, such as the Bellevue Festival of the Arts, Bumbershoot and Folklife, in addition to commissioned art for local businesses.

The first mural on the side of Shack Coffee, he said, proved somewhat difficult at first because much of the wall’s visibility would be blocked by cars, requiring him to paint based on what people would normally see.

“They were really happy with it,” he said of the owners.

Given free rein to paint whatever he wanted, he was approached by the apartment building owner to paint the second mural after seeing the first one.

“We threw around some ideas and changed it a few times,” he said. “We wanted something that had kind of a vibe of what West Seattle was all about, while staying true to my style and how I do things. We wanted to give it a West Seattle vibe without having to try and illustrate West Seattle or be too literal. I wanted it to appeal to my age demographics that are living in that neighborhood.”

The final result evokes the industrial areas, along with the various sea life and native animals – a fishing boat suspended in mid-air flying a seal flag, with pelicans near the bow.

Jesse Link said the urban surrealism is much more subtle than other types of art.

“The message in the painting doesn’t come out,” he said. “It’s not very obvious. It’s one where the viewer has to make their own association, a feel for what the painting is. It’s about expressing feelings and messages.”

“My style has definitely evolved,” he added. “It’s matured.”

Despite the two West Seattle murals, Jesse Link said his primary passion is in personal artwork, available as originals or canvas reprints, rather than public art. At the same time, he won’t turn down the opportunity.

“I’m interested in doing personal work,” he said. “If they give me a giant wall and want me to do something with it and I have artistic liberty, it’s just a lot of fun.”

Although several of his limited edition paintings have sold well, including one of an octopus, Jesse Link said he doesn’t try to paint according to what he thinks will prove popular.

“I take sales out of the equation,” he said. “I just paint what feels good and what I like. If I try to figure out what people want to buy that would just drive me crazy.”

More of Jesse’s work can be viewed at jesselink.com.