Isaac Caruso is a 33-year-old artist and author from Phoenix who is traveling his home state to bring art and culture to the walls in its cities.
Over the last 10 years, Caruso has been writing a children’s book that he is illustrating with street art throughout Arizona. Each page of his yet to be published book “Sam and Sara” will be painted on a wall somewhere in the state. So far, he has completed 30 of the 43 pages with Winslow being the most recent. Other places to look for the murals include Tempe, Flagstaff, Cottonwood, Ajo and Sierra Vista.
“Sam and Sara” came to Caruso as a vehicle to not only encourage young people to use their imaginations, but also as a representation of imagination being a gift.
Caruso said, “This book is fictitious, with some elements of real life in it. I did graffiti from the time I was a little kid, that was my conduit. Graffiti artists are basically all just little kids who never grew out of drawing on the walls. Therefore, I know, as an artist, that we all want to transform our surroundings and we forget that we can. The main character here is a day dreamer who drives everyone crazy because her head is in the clouds. I wanted to give the main character those nontraditional learner qualities to demonstrate how that can exist in the real world and if you have a great imagination, you can create anything.”
Caruso did not set out to be an author. However, as he traveled the world making art in various forms, he realized that it was a great way to spread his art and message.
“When I was a kid, the most significant artistic experiences I had were literary. Starting with Shel Silverstein and then later in life, Steven King blew my mind. As I got into art as my medium, I wanted to do something that was the best of both of those worlds which resulted in this children’s book. It’s a narrative but I can use my artistic abilities in it.”
Follow Caruso around the State of Arizona on his website, www.samandsara.org and visit the Winslow mural at Kinsley Avenue and Third Street.
