PRHBTN decides to no longer create murals in Lexington

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - PRHBTN, the organization that has funded and supported more than 40 pieces of street art in Lexington, is longer creating murals.

“As of right now, we are kind of shifting focus to focus more on our gallery, and we won’t be producing large-scale producing, large-scale public murals in the fall anymore,” PRHBTN co-founder John Winters said.

Winters said stepping away from this kind of art is difficult.

“In a way, it takes over our lives in the month of October and for really the rest of the year,” Winters said.

PRHBTN has supported around 40 pieces of work in Lexington. Some of them have caused some controversy, including when an artist wrote something about former President Donald Trump.

“The building owner was concerned that the message was creating conflict and possibly physical altercations in front of the mural,” Winters said.

Winters said at one building, their street art was there before anyone had moved in. He said he was told nobody would open up shop because the art would scare customers way, but it actually did the opposite. Now, 30 businesses are in and around the building.

“I think art in general brings life to places. I think that’s really important to this area,” business owner Rebecca Burnworth said. “I think that’s important for this area. You know it’s kind of developed slowly over time, very grassroots development. I think art played a huge part in that.”

Now, Winters hopes someone else will pick up the paint brush and continue to make Lexington think through art.

“I hope we’ve created an environment where murals and street art are important to people,” Winters said.

Winters said guest artist from 19 countries and six different continents have come into Lexington to create the street art you see.

Copyright 2022 WKYT. All rights reserved.