The world gets a whole lot brighter with the addition of vivid murals incorporating every color of the rainbow, splashed all over public surfaces like apartment buildings, walls, staircases and bridges. Whether they’re officially created in celebration of Pride in cities like Montreal and Minneapolis or simply because the artists love to work in vivid hues, these installations imbue their environments with a sense of hopefulness and joy.
5 Works in Vivid Color by Xomatok
Peruvian street artist Xomatoc, who’s made a name for himself with vivid murals, paintings on canvas and other works, often travels around South America to bring his cheerful color palette to commissions and personal work alike. His works might be several stories tall – like new gradient rainbows throughout the Villa el Salvador district of Lima – or they might be as small and simple as painting a rock like a prism and leaving it behind for someone else to discover.
Staircase by DIHZAHYNERS in Beirut
A collective of artists calling themselves ’THE DIHZAHYNERS’ aims to “create initiatives to make Beirut brighter & more beautiful, through color.” They’ve certainly succeeded on that front with this stunning staircase (photographed by Nadim Kamel.)
Technicolor Ooze & Chromatic Cascade by Jen Stark
Artist Jen Stark works in both 2D and 3D, in gallery environments and in the public. When she gets to paint an entire building – as white and unadorned as a blank canvas – her talent really shines. ‘Technicolor Ooze’ is one such standout project, completed at The Platform in Culver City, California. Another is ‘Chromatic Cascade,’ a mural at 1825 Conway Place in the Arts District of Los Angeles.
Walk of Colors Montreal Installation
‘Walk of Colors’ is a fun public art installation along St. Catherine Street East in Montreal made of colorful balls strung over a pedestrian promenade in the city’s Gay Village. While in previous years, the balls have been pink, 2017’s edition manifested in an 18-tone rainbow sequence to celebrate Pride. 180,000 balls are divided into 18 segments of 10,000. Locals nicknamed it “18 shades of gay.”
Graphic Abstracted Works by Felipe Pantone
Graphic black and white patterns interplay with soft, fuzzy rainbows of color in large-scale outdoor works by Spanish-Argentinian artist Felipe Pantone. Sometimes these compositions are pixelated, sometimes they’re more fluid, sometimes they look like computer glitches or screenshots of ‘80s video games – but they’re always instantly recognizable as Pantone’s work.
