Sebastian Coolidge

If you haven’t seen Sebastian Coolidge’s murals, then you haven’t been to Downtown St. Pete yet.

Sebastian Coolidge’s art is everywhere from office buildings to breweries to cafes to rooftops. Coolidge painted a mural in 2012 on the storefront of the clothing store, Freshly Squeezed, as a result the commissions kept rolling in from there. “He didn’t really have any money, I didn’t really have any money,” says Coolidge, “so I got a bunch of free house paint and traded him $500 in clothes to do that mural. It ended up getting me a whole year’s worth of jobs.”

Sebastian’s soft-spoken nature sharply contrasts his big and bold art style. He spans between whimsical imagery to darkly bizarre subject matter. Needless to say, his work is never boring. “There’s something old-worldly I think I have this connection with. I try to paint things from history and mix it with modern stuff — kind of like a past, present and future in all my paintings. I collect old photos and animal bones, I think because I feel like when I die I want my soul to be cherished by someone.”

This Kansas City native moved to St. Pete six years ago, and started by rummaging for used paint from dumpsters then offering to paint murals for food, clothes, or cash. These humble beginnings are now just a thing of the past, and Coolidge is one of the most prolific DTSP muralists.

681 Central Ave. (Alley)

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