Mural by Smithe
Situated in Richmond, VA, the street art festival Richmond Mural Project was founded with the goal of creating over 100 murals by the world’s leading contemporary artists in its first five years. Such an eclectic array of permanent public artworks, according to the project’s founders at Art Whino, would propel Richmond as an international street art destination. Now in its third year, this rendition of the event gave 10 contemporary artists two weeks to complete over 20 murals. Chazme 718, Meggs, Onur, Ron English, Sepe, Smitheone, Ekundayo, Proch, David Flores and Wes21 began painting on June 16 and are finishing their works as we speak. Today, we bring you some photos of the works in progress as well as some finished pieces from Ekundayo and Smithe, the latter of whom was working double time on two pieces. Take a look at the progress photos below and stay tuned for coverage of all the finished murals.
Photos courtesy of Marc Schmidt.
Preliminary sketch of Smithe’s wall.
Detail of Smithe’s mural on day four of the Richmond Mural Project
Smithe’s fantastical mural is juxtaposed with David Flores’s Pop-inspired work on the seventh painting day.
Proch’s work begins to take shape on the fourth day of painting.
Proch’s finished piece.
Onur and Wes21’s work in progress.
Sepe and Chezme take on an enormous wall, wrapping up around the seventh day of painting.
Sepe and Chezme finishing their murals.
Smithe paints a second wall with the added challenge of painting over brick.
Street view of Smithe’s second wall.
Ekundayo filling in color with a roller.
Sketch by Ekundayo for one of his murals.
Finished piece by Ekundayo.
Ron English works on a huge wall on the eighth day.
Ron English up on the lift.
Nighttime view of Ron English’s wall as it nears completion.