Scott LoBaido set to unfurl latest flag creation

on June 13, 2010 at 9:20 AM, updated June 13, 2010 at 9:21 AM

scott2.jpgThanks to the wonders of the computer, LoBaidoâs flag design is superimposed on an aerial photo of the Lamons Gasket Co. building. LoBaido begins work on the massive project tomorrow, Flag Day. He expects to complete the flag on July 4th.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- He's painted more images of the American flag than he can count -- at least one in all 50 states.

So why not paint, arguably, the biggest Stars and Stripes anywhere, ever: A Texas-sized 150,000 square foot rooftop flag deep in the heart of Houston.


That's exactly what nationally known Staten Island artist Scott LoBaido plans to do, starting tomorrow -- appropriately, Flag Day -- when he embarks on his most complex project yet: Producing one of his singular undulating American flags, covering what amounts to 3.5 acres, in nine gradations of red, white and blue, using some 900 gallons of paint, on the roof of the Lamons Gasket Co.

He aims to finish with a flourish on July 4th.

It will be, he believes, the biggest painting of an American flag in existence.

"I've wanted to do the world's largest flag ever since 'Flags,'" said LoBaido of his 2006 "Flags Across America" endeavor that took him from sea to shining sea to paint a flag in every state in the nation.

The enterprise burnished his cred as one of the country's leading artists of Americana.

scott.jpgKurt Allen, left, Lamons Gasket Co. president, shakes hands with Grasmere artist Scott LoBaido in Lamonsâ Houston, Texas, headquarters.
Locally, it helped him recently earn a place in the Hall of Fame of New Dorp High School, LoBaido's alma mater, where he scribbled and sketched and drew on any surface he could, whenever he could, while a student there. These days, the borough is home to dozens and dozens of outdoor LoBaido flags.

"The American flag is my favorite work of art," said LoBaido, 45, of Grasmere. "I have seen the Mona Lisa, Michelangelo's David. The American flag is more beautiful. It is a worldly flag; it belongs to the world. With the exception of the Native Americans, we are all from somewhere else. It represents all of us."

Six months ago, looking for a larger-than-life canvas on which to paint his biggest flag yet, one that could be seen from the sky, LoBaido began Googling the rooftop recommendations suggested by his coterie of fans from around the country after he put out feelers. Soon he was e-surfing sites in Cleveland, Denver, Jersey City, N.J., and upstate Albany.

But nothing felt as right as Lamons in Houston, in the shadow of William P. Hobby Airport -- especially after he met company president Kurt Allen, who was in Manhattan on business.

Born in England and raised in Australia, Allen told LoBaido he'd traveled the globe.

"I've been in this country since 1995," recounted Allen of his conversation with LoBaido. "I became a citizen in 2008. It was always my goal to become a U.S. citizen. America is the best place to live."

The sentiment sold LoBaido.

"I told Scott it would mean a great deal to me for Lamons to be chosen, that I wanted to give something back to the country," added Allen during a telephone interview. "I made my pitch. I told him I wanted it to be on our building--whatever it takes."

As such, Allen has pledged $55,000 for supplies and labor, including a local team of 15 men to help LoBaido apply a primer coat to the flat corrugated metal factory roof some 30 feet off the ground.

LoBaido will then transform his computer-generated grid from paper to rooftop -- a "major challenge" that has him feeling both "exhilarated" and slightly "petrified."

"When I do a flag, I plan it out, sketch it out, and there's a lot of math involved," explained LoBaido. "People don't understand the relationship of math and art. Also, people just think you get up there and paint a big flag. But it can't be static. It has to flow."

Smaller teams will then help LoBaido paint the basic red, white and blue, but execution of the detailed three-dimensional shadings of color will be all LoBaido.

Sun up to sun down he'll paint, he said, stopping only in cases of extreme heat and rain. He shrugged off questions of how he would withstand the noise from nearby Hobby Airport, saying the jets would be "inspirational."

Meanwhile, Allen -- he wants to "get up there and paint," too -- said his employees, who hail from 22 countries, are enthused about the prospect of the world's largest painting of an American flag gracing the company's rooftop.

Not that Lamons' is a stranger to flag displays -- all 22 countries have their flags showcased in an international array in the gasket factory.