Murals, Art, Reno

My morning started out by going out and finding some of the local murals I’ve read about in the local area. You know, those large pictures you see painted directly onto a wall. Preferably, an outdoor wall where it is easily seen and observed.

There’s also such a thing called Mural Art; it is alive and well in Reno. Mural art is an aspect of socially engaging art in a way that plays a role, in a relationship, somewhere between art and politics.

Mural art continues to speak to us, long after the painting wall has dried. Murals are also great at depicting insights into the communities that they are painted on.

Reno’s Midtown district is a colorful place to visit. If you come thirsty or hungry it’s even better. After the meal is over wander around on your own for a self-guided Midtown Mural Tour!

Let me recommend either walking or riding a motorcycle as an easier way of accessing most of Reno murals. It’s tough driving as most roads I encountered do not appear to run straight- intentionally.

You can find the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout pictured above by Louis Masai, London, UK. (Summer 2016) at this address: 743 S. Virginia Street, Reno, Nevada.

Louis Masai painted the colorful cutthroat as part of his “The Art of Being” series. It took him just two months to make his way across the USA visiting 13 U.S. cities, and leaving behind murals dedicated to endangered species that are native to those areas.

In Reno, he plastered his colorful Lahontan Cutthroat on the side of the building at 743 S. Virginia Street. You can easily see that his murals have caught on throughout this funky Midtown Reno area. There are literally dozens of murals all around.

While in Reno I had trouble finding and photographing the “Hands Up” mural by Erik Burke, Reno, Nevada (2014) that is located at 720 Tahoe St.

Hand’s UP is a piece of art showcasing a black women and her grandson embraced in a dance, underneath the gaze of a crow, amidst pink flowers. The artwork is a commentary on Jim Crow laws that maintained segregation in the states until the civil rights movement. I found the following while visiting the Nevada Preservation Historical Museum. It surprised me also.

I also didn’t find the mural “Back in the Days is Now”, by Erik Burke, Reno, Nevada (2016) it’s located at 645 S. Virginia

This pop of blue and red on S. Virginia Street is another creation by local artist Erik Burke.

The mural commissioned by the apartment complex is a reminder to appreciate the moment and to live in the now!

The following wall murals are from a motorcycle ride I took down the Oregon coast in 2020. You can certainly notice the eclectic differences in the murals above vs the murals below.