Nigel Sussman Puts His Signature Isometric Art On Ingleside Storefront

Nigel Sussman, a Berkeley-based muralist and illustrator, just finished painting a new mural inspired by the store name and Bay Area landmarks on an Ocean Avenue storefront. Kushology, a forthcoming cannabis shop near Beep’s Burgers, is decorated in the freelance muralist and illustrator’s distinct style.

Sussman, 42, said he’s always been a creative person, having doodled and sketched for as long as he could remember. 

Originally from Western Maryland, the Appalachia territory between Pennsylvania and West Virginia, he came to California to study illustration at California College of the Arts in 2003 and has been in the Bay Area ever since.

“It's beautiful, but California has a lot to offer in terms of culture, the ocean, and, of course, cannabis,” Sussman said. “I won't lie; that was a factor in what initially brought me out here.”

He met Kushology’s partners, the operators of Bloom Room dispensaries, years ago when they were running the dispensary Bloom Room. 

“I painted the facade of that dispensary years ago, and now this is their new venture,” Sussman said. “They've asked me back, so now it comes full circle. I get to do new art for some old friends and a new spot in the neighborhood.”

The Ingleside Light was able to catch up with Sussman as he was putting the finishing touches on his latest work.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How do you describe your artistic style?

You'll notice a lot of my work uses a fixed perspective, an isometric view that creates a vanishing point and makes it all fit together like a puzzle. It's very familiar, and I feel like I'm influenced by things like old video games and Where's Waldo books. I always say the Where's Waldo books and the original Sim City computer games are a big part of where my aesthetic comes from and is ingrained in my brain from the many hours spent in those worlds.

I'm improvising based on a sort of half-baked plan for these guys. It's a nice way to work when they give me a list of things they want to see, and then my job is just rendering it, and they're trusting me to make it fit.

Because they use Kushology — “ology” means “to study” — I've tried to drive that idea home by accompanying it with more readily accepted academic books. Here we have botany and history and Kushology.

Where does your creativity come from? How do you sustain it?

I love drawing. I do it for fun. And these kinds of projects are always fresh because the client, in this case, Kushology, provides me with subject matter and suggestions on what to paint. From there, it just becomes figuring out the puzzle of how to interpret their vision through my filter.

It never gets boring, because if I were just doing it for myself, I'm sure I would rehash the same subject matter over and over again. However, I'm often asked to pitch ideas that illustrate all sorts of crazy concepts I never would have thought of on my own, which is the best.

What else is going on in your world?

I'm fortunate to be busy right now. I just finished a fun project with the California Academy of Sciences, where I created a giant model of Claude the alligator for his birthday this month. Now I’ll have to disassemble and then reassemble the sculpture at its new home. It's 16 feet long, made out of cardboard and three-dimensional. It's a little different from this project, but they've also been a long-time client of mine.

I created a poster for the nightlife program years ago, and I still participate in live drawing at quarterly nightlife events. That's always a fun time to be in the museum. I also have a number of other small murals around town and abroad.