Writer, artist and aerobics teacher Buddy Valentine created a pair of O+ murals that kiss across town. Buddy is also the author of “Rainbows,” the “coolest, funnest book series about fighting depression” with each individually published chapter organized around a color.
Legendary NYC graffiti artist Lady Pink, who now calls Ulster County home, was inspired by her wall’s proximity to two Latinx-owned businesses: Express Latinos and La Hacienda Restaurant. The artist wanted to tell the true story of one of the largest genocides in history following the introduction of European explorers to Native peoples in the Americas. She painted images of the culture and beauty that were forever altered by those encounters as well as showing the outcome: Lady Death personified during the Day of the Dead. Dia de los Muertos imagery has found its way into much of Pink’s work and the bold colors used in the mural reflect the artist’s signature vibrant palette. This piece was initially created for the 2016 O+ Festival and then repainted/updated during the 2021 O+ Festival.
Exploring the intangible shadow-self, this mural asks viewers to trust intuition and spirit to guide them through the portal of deeper understanding and infinite possibilities. The artists depicted the realms of inner space and interdimensional travels by painting a blindfolded figure riding with a flower-headed being on a tandem bicycle toward a flower-adorned portal. Kravtsov (a registered nurse) has also volunteered as a provider in the O+ Clinic.
This mural features an intersectional tableau of women and girls climbing, lifting, and working together, visually connected by the gestures of their bodies and planes of bold colors approximating architectural elements. Women and girls have been emerging from the shadows of the patriarchy as powerful voices and changemakers in our communities. Here, the collective feminine are “stretching their influence and talents out across their communities and building the future together,” says Wolkowicz. “Lifted” is also inspired by a saying synonymous with the Riot Grrrl movement: “girls to the front.”
This mural is a reminder of how a spirit of playfulness and imagination can transform an ordinary day into a magnificent journey that illuminates our world. In the midst of a fantastical adventure, two children emerge from a shadow/alternate universe riding a helmeted turkey on jet skis, a nod to the turkey roasted daily inside Eddy’s Restaurant. Caricature, illustration and stylized writing pay homage to graffiti, hip hop and pop cultures (note the Ultraman doll from Japanese science fiction). This collaborative effort showcases each of the collaborating artists’ signature motifs.
The collaborative mural portrays Nina Gualinga, an environmental and indigenous rights activist and “hija del primer levantamiento (daughter of the first uprising).” It is inspired by a photographic portrait by Marc Silver taken during his documentation of the fight of the Kichwa tribe in Ecuadorian Amazon to save their ancestral land from oil interests. The mural depicts images of migration, Hudson Valley landscapes, and an Incan Inti gold piece over coal and marble- natural resources mined from these areas to build cities and capitals – referencing traditional medicine, modern technology, wellness and health divided by years of solitude.
Here the Poughkeepsie-based artist John Breiner explores the balance of humans and nature through the motif of bricks. The brick symbolizes stability and, after a period of moving from place to place, the artist pays tribute to the brick manufacturing history of Kingston’s Hutton Brickyard. Bricks were manufactured locally but used far and wide to build cities and Breiner’s movement in the mural presents the region as a “beehive” of ever changing, cultural activity. NOTE: This mural has been de-installed.
This mural explores the ways that reading books can spark a child’s imagination. Stetz, a High Falls-based artist, collaborated with the People’s Place staff to include visuals that showcase the goods and services offered at the community store and food pantry, including fresh fruit, clothing, toys, games and housewares while utilizing the vibrant colors and fantastical compositions Stetz is now known for. NOTE: This mural has been de-installed.
Jack Dishel is a NYC-based musician, producer, actor, comedian and graffiti artist. He is best known as the singer/songwriter behind Only Son, lead guitarist for Moldy Peaches and creator/star of the viral web comedy series: “:DRYVRS.” Vor 138 has gained international recognition as one of NYC’s finest graffiti artists with a career spanning nearly 25 years. Together they worked on this painted pop culture collage. NOTE: This mural has been de-installed.
This mural depicts a female figure, surfacing in green/aqua water reminiscent of Hudson Valley swimming holes. The word “kill” (from the Middle Dutch kille meaning riverbed or water channel) references the myriad bodies of water of the region. The mural is an extension of French’s studio practice; her paintings reflect on the nostalgia of summers spent in the water, calling to mind the quiet tranquility of nature, of days spent sinking and floating, still and peaceful. The piece plays with both painterly abstraction and hyper-realism, depending on the viewer’s perspective and proximity to the image.
