Robert Gardikiotis, who passed away in March, was a fixture of the downtown core for over half a century.
Thanks to a new mural, his image and memory will live on in the area he helped build. Gardikiotis, who owned The Copper Kettle with his wife Ann, was well-remembered for his pride of Regina’s downtown.
“Without Robert, downtown would be so different than it is today,” said Kurtis Tokarchuk, manager of O’Hanlon’s. “He always wanted to make it better. He knew what it could become. We have seen downtown flourish and it shows how hard people worked in the past.”
The mural, located on the south side of the Copper Kettle in the alley between Scarth and Hamilton streets, depicts the history of the area and includes an image of Gardikiotis based on a Leader-Post photo taken by Troy Fleece. Painted by Danny Fernandez, an artist who has painted murals of Prince, Robin Williams, Darian Durant and more, the project took about 10 days to complete.
“It is hundreds of hours. I have been doing this for the most part myself,” Fernandez said. “I have been doing 16-hour days, every day. I sleep, get up, paint more.”
The process to paint the mural began some time ago following Fernandez’s painting of a giant beer on the top of Victoria’s Tavern.
“I met with Regina Downtown Business (Improvement District) and they said they were doing this idea for Robert,” Fernandez said. “After he passed, the idea came up again and we started to go through it and it has been a year-long process of doing it. We sat with the family, and the managers and general manager and staff. We had a design and we went from there.”
Fernandez began painting as a child, which transitioned into graffiti later in life. After attending art school and dropping out to become a rapper (his stage name is Def3), he returned to painting again a few years later for fun.
“People started hiring me out from there and I just got busier and busier. I started a mural advertising company and now I am doing a lot bigger jobs for a lot of different things,” Fernandez said. “Whether it is car companies or alcohol companies or people’s houses, it has just become between the music and this, more than a full-time job.”
So far, the response from those walking past or visiting O’Hanlon’s has been very good.
“So many people have come in and asked questions and are commenting,” said Tokarchuk. “People are coming in and asking questions about The Copper Kettle as well. It is great for the history of downtown to remain intact.”
“The response has been really great. There has not been a negative response yet,” Fernandez said. “Everyone is generally happy and people who knew him well recognize him from the portrait. Some people will sit and watch for awhile. It has been a great response from the community.”
According to Tokarchuk, the mural has accomplished what it set out to do.
“I really feel it is a fitting tribute. I love how it transitions from what it was, and what it became,” Tokarchuk said. “I love the picture of him on the side. it is one of my favourite pictures of him to see.”
Once he completes the project, Fernandez will be keeping busy, including a new mural in Surrey.
“There are a couple more that are coming up as well,” he said.
