The 2018 edition of Crush Walls will feature over sixty local artists contributing to more than 100 murals across ten blocks in Denver's RiNo neighborhood, with Mile High residents and businesses alike supporting the effort financially and spiritually. And like other businesses invested in its local community, one popular Denver dispensary is getting in on the fun.
Partnering with local artists Patrick Kane McGregor, Mike Giant and Jason Garcia, L'Eagle dispensary is funding a CRUSH mural that will cover 100 feet by 30 feet in hopes of "spotlighting a message of love through each artist’s style," according to an announcement form L'Eagle.
The artists have all done extensive work in the Denver-Boulder metro area, but each specializes in something different. McGregor, whose wife works in the cannabis industry, specializes in large portraits and murals known for their realism and powerful characters he includes. Mike “Giant” LeSage is more known for graffiti, tattoos and Sharpie drawings, heavily influenced by black-ink tattoo culture. Garcia, on the other hand, likes to focus on studio work when he isn't working on murals, tattooing or painting for large events.
The mural is located at the intersection of Chestnut Place and 35th Street.
L'Eagle owner Amy Andrle is no stranger to Denver's art scene. Her company sponsored the Denver Theatre District and Denver Digerati's collaborative Supernova Digital Animation Festival in 2017, and she's now a part of the Denver County Cultural Council.
"We’ve been a fan of Crush Walls for years and of its mission to take art out of the galleries and into the streets,” she explains. “Patrick, Mike and Jason are enormously talented, so to be able to support their work on a project of this size has been a gift.”
The Crush Walls project debuted in 2010 from artist Robin Munro, growing each year as it diversifies Denver's urban landscape with voices around the Mile High community. Artists will be all over the RiNo neighborhood completing their works through Sunday, September 9. To learn more about Crush Walls artists, murals and where to find them this year, go to the festival's website.