Resident's Tattooed Hands Inspired Controversial Mural

Sarasotans have looked at artist MTO's "Fast Life" mural on the  building's wall and wondered, "What does it mean?"

They've also assumed that those are the hands of the artist MTO, but both of those mysteries at 10th Street and Central Avenue are now somewhat resolved.

The same day Lego Man Ego Leonard was set free, one couldn't help but notice Jeremy Cattanach's tattoos as he loaded up Leonard in a pickup truck with Brian McInnis.

The colorful ink ran head to toe, but it was the simple artistic markings on his hands: FAST LIFE.

"It's just a part of life," Cattanach said of the tattoo's message. "Life goes by fast, you're not promised tomorrow. I love to surf, love to skate and love the artistic rush."

The hands are unmistakable as the styling of each letter matches the mural.

He said he was asked by the artist to be the hands of the mural and was told to form his hands for M for MTO for the artwork that was installed as part of a .

Cattanach said he's still amazed with all the interpretations out there — good and bad — and some, like the "Fat Lie" one because of how letters are shaded out, didn't come to him at first either.

He's happy to be a part of the mural and is glad that

"What he feels is right and he's participating in the act of art, and he's still standing by it and it's good for a business, man," he said.

Cattanach works at the custom T-shirt shop, , co-owned by Austin Kowal, son of Chalk Festival Founder .

That day the mural was created and the entire Chalk Festival felt like a fast life, Cattanach said, going from place to place, seeing all the art created so rapidly that weekend.

Denise Kowal said the mural has been a "big conversation starter." She is disappointed with a story from Rise Magazine, which she said gives a slanted view of the piece.

"It's difficult to get people on board if you're not giving people the truthful story," she said.

In part, she said, that's been contributed by a survey that was passed out in the community and a press conference that started the community complaints about it being gang related.

One thing she aims to make clear is that the mural is not in a residential area — it's at the entrance of an industrial zone in the Rosemary District.

Det. Kim Laster is an expert on gangs and works with the . Laster examined the mural in late November. 

"The mural was not gang related," Laster told Patch in an e-mail conversation. "However, I can understand how one could interpret it as such without first gathering the background relating to it."

She added the way the hands are positioned would make one think it would be gang-related.

The debate will continue in the community as And the mural that started it all is nothing but good, Cattanach said.

"It's good for MTO and for the whole Chalk Fest," he said.