Photos by Lily Foster
Reporting by Saraya Brewer and Laurie Johnathan
With the installation of dozens of new murals and other public art installations over the past decade, the streets of downtown Lexington have gradually become a living gallery. Playing no small role in that transformation is the grassroots organization and annual street art celebration PRHBTN, which advocates for public art by bringing a handful of national and international artists to Lexington each year to create a large-scale mural on a prominent exterior city wall.
Born from the creative minds of Lexington duo and married couple John and Jessica Winters, the organization is designed to celebrate street art and other art forms that are often “prohibited.” The organizers donate their time to raise money for the artists’ travel and supplies; coordinate with business owners to find walls that are suitable for the murals; and coordinate lodging for the artists while they are in Lexington – oftentimes even putting them up in their own home. The organizers don’t make any personal income from the project – all of this is done in the name of bringing color, character and excitement to the streets of the city they call home.
“We raise the minimum amount of money possible,” Jessica Winters said. “We spend all of it on the art, and we try not to have [any] left over – in that way, we can put everything that we have [into] the art.”
October 2021 marked the 10th annual installment of PRHBTN (the event started in 2011 but took a year off in 2020). To celebrate the monumental occasion, organizers invited a handful of favorite artists who have previously painted walls in Lexington to return and create yet another mural in the city. As a result, Lexington’s walls are now decked with five new murals on behalf of PRHBTN, including four by returning artists and one by local artist Joe King. Below, we take a look at the new murals that PRHBTN orchestrated with its most recent installment.
“Til the Cows Come Home” by Alexandrea Pangburn and Aerosol Kingdom
111 Mechanic St.
1 of 5
Photos by Lily Foster
2 of 5
Photos by Lily Foster
3 of 5
Photos by Lily Foster
4 of 5
Photos by Lily Foster
5 of 5
Photos by Lily Foster
Located on the side of Lowell’s Auto Repair near Third Street Stuff Coffee is the mural “Til the Cows Come Home.” The artwork was a collaboration between the Lexington-born artist Alexandrea Pangburn, who is currently based in Denver and serves as the director of curation for that city’s RiNo Arts District, and Justin Suarez, a New York-based muralist who paints under the name Aerosol Kingdom. The two artists had never worked together but found their styles melded really well together (Pangburn painted the right side of the mural while Aerosol Kingdom painted the left side).
The mural is dedicated to Lexington’s cattle industry, said Pangburn, who grew up in Lexington and enjoyed coming back home for this creative project.
“Most people know Kentucky for its horses but not for its cattle,” she said, adding that Kentucky is the largest beef-producing state east of the Mississippi. The two artists bonded over their mutual interest in bird species and also incorporated into the mural a pair of Kentucky warblers, a species native to the area.
This is the second local mural Pangburn has created for PRHBTN (she’s also responsible for the adorable crown-wearing fox on Fifth and Jefferson streets) and Aerosol Kingdom’s first artistic contribution to Lexington.
“The Mother of Us All” by GAIA
161 N. Limestone St.
1 of 6
Photos by Lily Foster
2 of 6
Photos by Lily Foster
3 of 6
Photos by Lily Foster
4 of 6
Photos by Lily Foster
5 of 6
Photos by Lily Foster
6 of 6
Photos by Lily Foster
Located on the north-facing wall of a North Limestone building that was formerly home to George’s Deli, the mural “The Mother of Us All” by Baltimore-based artist Gaia is a tribute to Lexington historical figure Sweet Evening Breeze (1892-1983), an iconic cross-dressing hospital orderly who is considered by many to be the originator of Lexington’s drag scene. The mural was sourced from several images from the Faulkner Morgan Archive, a local organization dedicated to preserving the history and telling the story of the Lexington LGBTQ community, including a photograph from the 1970s by John Ashley also called ”The Mother of Us All” (the prominent photo making up the left side of the mural).
This is Gaia’s second mural in Lexington for PRHBTN; in 2013, he adorned the Bellaire Avenue-facing wall of West Sixth Brewery with a mural depicting John Hunt’s horse Black Bess, leaping from the pedestal of a Confederate monument (the mural was created several years prior to the removal of the John Hunt monument from downtown Lexington).
“The Pythia in Agate” by Joe King
509 W. Fourth St.
1 of 4
Photos by Lily Foster
2 of 4
Photos by Lily Foster
3 of 4
Photos by Lily Foster
4 of 4
Photos by Lily Foster
Located on the side of a Transylvania warehouse on the corner of Fourth and Jefferson streets, “The Pythia In Agate” mural by Lexington artist Joe King was born from a current passion project of the artist revolving around reimagining and illustrating Greek myths and the historic lore that surrounds them. The image depicts the Oracle of Delphi, also known as the Pythia, exiting a trance to deliver guidance to a listener on their path toward the future.
“The laurel wreath on [The Pythia’s] head and light from her heart suggest to follow the path of the heart with wisdom as your guide,” King explained. “The smoke-like colors, known as trance inducing pneuma, swirl around, forming shape and color similar to Kentucky agate, to suggest that the path ahead will always be connected to home.”
King has worked for years as a graphic designer and tattoo artist in Lexington but is relatively new to the world of creating murals, having created a total of six large-scale paintings to date. A longtime friend of John and Jessica Winters, the organizers behind the PRHBTN mural project, he said the organization initially inspired him to try his hand at murals.
“One of the greatest perks of working with PRHBTN is the freedom they give to their artists,” he said. “I am so grateful for their trust and support of my art and truly honored to be able to be a part.”
During the mural installation, King was floored by the comments and support from the community while he was painting. “I felt so loved and connected with the community, which to me is what street art is all about,” he said.
“Untitled” by Patch Whisky
472 Southland Drive
1 of 4
Photos by Lily Foster
2 of 4
Photos by Lily Foster
3 of 4
Photos by Lily Foster
4 of 4
Photos by Lily Foster
Charleston, South Carolina- based artist Patch Whisky is known for the funky, colorful, cartoon-like monsters he creates, whether on a canvas, a wall or even in 3-D form, such as toys or Christmas ornaments. For the artist’s most recent trip to Lexington to create art for PRHBTN, he decked out a large wall on Southland Drive with a couple of his signature creatures, providing a blast of color and whimsy to the site, which is on the side of an as-yet-unannounced restaurant.
This is actually Patch Whisky’s third trip to Lexington to create a mural for PRHBTN. His first mural was behind the Loudoun House on a wall initially intended to exhibit successive murals and was painted over the following year. The organization then brought the artist back to paint a mural on the Loudon Avenue building that was home at the time to the music venue Cosmic Charlie’s; that mural was painted over once new tenants moved in.
“Friendship” by Key Detail
161 Bruce St.
1 of 6
Photos by Lily Foster
2 of 6
Photos by Lily Foster
3 of 6
Photos by Lily Foster
4 of 6
Photos by Lily Foster
5 of 6
Photos by Lily Foster
6 of 6
Photos by Lily Foster
A native of Belarus currently living and working in New York City, the muralist Key Detail has created dozens of murals over the past decade. “Friendship,” the mural he recently painted for PRHBTN on the side of Harrison Elementary School in Lexington – the largest mural created for this year’s event – depicts a friendship between a young girl and a fox with a whimsical, fairy-tale-esque vibe. The mural is visible on Jefferson Street and creates a bright and colorful backdrop for the students as they play on the playground.
This is Key Detail’s second trip to Lexington to create artwork on behalf of PRHBTN; in 2018, the artist collaborated with his wife, muralist Yu-Baba, to create the “Three Elements” mural on the corner of Third and Mechanic Streets, near Third Street Stuff Coffee.