Andy’s Gym

Earlier this year AndyRoddick.com gave you an exclusive behind the scenes look at the vision behind Andy’s gym. On day 6 of Advent, we’re going to look back at the incredible artwork, designed by Blue Genie Art Corporation, and inspired by Andy.

Rory Skagen and Blue Genie Art Incorporation were the team responsible for transforming Andy’s gym from a garage to a spectacular mural to motivate Andy whilst he trained. Andy explained his vision to Rory – a mural incorporating his personal heroes, inspirational slogans and his foundation logo.

“While designing, I went through his long list of heroes and tried to select ones with variety in excellence (their field of endeavour, politics, sports, music) and appearance (gender, age, race.)” Rory explained. “After I chose the subjects from his list to paint, I decided to include the rest of the people on the list by adding just their names to the design, and also to add many of the personal slogans and expressions.”

Andy wanted a wall of people who had changed the world, and his list certainly included some extraordinary people. Rory and Blue Genie had an impressive list to work with, including the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Princess Diana, Lance Armstrong, Nelson Mandela and Elton John. Some role models closer to home also were prominent on Andy’s wall – his mom, dad, niece, nephew and Garrett, a young boy who is fighting cancer.

Working with other Blue Genie artists, Marty Garcia, and Kevin Collins, it took Rory and the Blue Genie team seven long days to complete the mural.

“From my three weeks working at his residence, I got a short story portrait of a deeply committed, fun loving, well rounded athlete, enjoying and sharing his amazing success,” Rory shared with AR.com. “It was fantastic creating a vision tailor made for a world class tennis star.”