LOS ANGELES – Free Hugs may be cancelled, but muralist Jeremy Novy still has a lot of love for Los Angeles. When the city shut down, many businesses didn’t just close their doors, they boarded up their windows which made the city look condemned. So Novy banded together with Art Share LA in an effort to paint over them.
What You Need To Know
- Banded together with Art Share LA to paint boarded up windows
- Travels the world to create murals to raise queer visibility
- Muralist Jeremy Novy started Let’s Paint The Town
- Novy said murals are really about empowering demographics
“Well, we would like to, you know, kind of paint all the boarded up buildings to give a better mental health, visibility or to make things look prettier at this time,” said muralist Novy.
But Novy's effort is really about giving jobs to artists during an unprecedented time of unemployment.
“And we’re actually hoping that maybe it can grow into something else and foster into other artists working together as a community and finding ways of self-sustainability and helping others out in the city,” said Novy.
Novy moved to Silver Lake two years ago and regularly travels the world to create murals to raise queer visibility. He’s known for his koi stencils, but COVID-19 took away many opportunities.
“It’s almost as if my career has been taken away from me in a certain way, but I think that’s with everyone,” said Novy.
So Nivy started Let’s Paint The Town, so artists can get paid to paint. So far, 10 muralists have been hired to paint buildings in the Arts District and Downtown LA. Amy Smith is thankful for the opportunity.
“This is an opportunity to kind of like show our work, but also to beautify the city at the same time,” said artist Amy Smith.
Murals can also spread a message and for Novy, the message is clear.
“So murals are really about empowering demographics,” said Novy. “You have all these murals that are for all these different social classes and to really make people feel comfortable safe in their community, but the one murals we do not have are queer murals.”
Queer murals often get shut down during the approval process, but right now, it’s the city that’s shut down due to COVID-19 and Jeremey just wants to get back to work.
“One thing that makes me very happy and is able for me to deal with stress and anxiety and things like that is to make art and to be an artist,” said Novy.
An artist with a message and mission.
Anyone who would like to donate to continue "Let’s Paint The Town,’" can visit the website here.