Here is a blog post Aaron De La Cruz recently posted about his experience painting his massive mural in San Jose's Eastridge Mall:

"I hope everyone is doing well. I’d like to update you all on what’s going on with my current and recent projects. Rather than sending one long newsletter, I’ll be sending two or three within the next two months. If all goes as planned, I will have a nice surprise ready for the last one.

With that being said, I will start off with my most recent project, completed this past March. It is my largest mural to date and is located at the Eastridge Mall on the southside of San Jose, CA. When this project first came to my attention, I initially had some hesitation as I wondered what the purpose would be for me to do a mural on a location where most people go to shop, and not to look at art.

But I remembered taking trips with my Grandmother to the Fulton Mall (located in Downtown Fresno, CA) back in the mid 1980’s. The exterior of the mall had a water feature that ran through the walkway, connecting all the stores. There were many large scale sculptures and water fountains throughout. At the time, I didn’t pay attention to the artwork I was being exposed to, but it did capture my attention.

What I’m trying to get at is, I recently found out that one of those sculptures was created by artist Pierre Auguste Renoir and is the only one in the world that the public can actually touch. Click here to see the sculpture. I liked the idea that this work of art that some would consider inaccessible, was placed where some people could care less about it. I then started to think about all of the large public art pieces I was exposed to as a youth and how I remember thinking, “How could a person create something of that scale with their hands?”.

I happily accepted the offer, and here is the result."