By Rick Rojas | The New York Times
Inside a worn-down building on the edge of downtown, a rambling mural that covered nearly the length of one wall looked like something a traveling artist might have painted for the sole purpose of settling a bar tab — as many here suspect was the case.
The 65-year-old mural, a tribute to alcohol, depicted guards armed with shotguns overseeing a still; women hovering like ghosts, a glass in each hand; and a dancer with one leg raised high, bloomers in full view. Even to the best-trained eye, it did not look like much. But the work represented a rare link to its creator, Ted DeGrazia, a wildly prolific artist born when Arizona was just a territory, whose career followed a trajectory that in many ways paralleled the ascent of the region that served as his muse.
