New mural at Reston charging station invokes Tesla in space

An artist using a wall as a canvass has plenty of inspiration as well as the backing of the building’s owner.

Vehicles using the Tesla Supercharger at Reston Station have noticed the artwork forming this fall. Developer Comstock commissioned the piece through Frederick, Md.-based R Design Group and has been working with artist Jack Pabis, an independent contractor who has created murals throughout the region, including one for Buffalo Trail Elementary School near Dulles airport as well as others for D.C. schools.

The artwork has drawn interest from Tesla drivers who use the charging station.  Pabis set up scaffolding there that he can transport in his van.

“It’s becoming more and more obvious what it is,” he said Tuesday of the mural. “I think now you can finally tell it’s a car.”

Comstock’s Reston Station, the office-residential-retail complex by the Dulles Toll Road and Wiehle-Reston Metro Station at 11389 Reston Station Boulevard, includes a Park and Ride, and the Tesla supercharging station arrived there in July 2020.

Pabis presented several options to Comstock and said the idea of a Tesla convertible hurling through space came forward as a clear favorite.

“They definitely liked it right off the bat,” he said of the Tesla-in-space option, and Comstock worked with him to refine it.

It’s a tribute to two companies and their iconic images after SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster was used as a dummy payload. It’s attached to part of a rocket, launched in 2018, that’s been orbiting the sun.

He said he got inspiration from images he’s seen of the feat, which was livestreamed, and he plans to contain a hodgepodge of concepts.

Comstock didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.

Plans were sidetracked amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but Pabis began painting this fall. Last month, he racked up over a week’s worth of work. He plans to finish by Christmas.