Grassroots mural project enlivens Old East Village, Hamilton Road

East London is about to get even more vibrant as a result of the efforts of a local arts collective with the backing of Western Fair District.

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The Risky Play Collective, a London-based urban art advocacy group, is behind a mural campaign called the Wet Paint Initiative that has put up 20 murals mainly in Old East Village and the Hamilton Road area in the past two years.

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This week the group is putting the finishing touches on an additional three murals, one at Western Fair District’s tunnel gate under Florence Street, and two near the intersection of Adelaide Street North and Hamilton Road.

“You can see that we’re kind of building what we like to think of as a world class, open air gallery there,” said Ken Galloway, referring to other nearby murals the group has commissioned. “We’re going to continue working on that particular block, that back corner, because we want to show how truly transformative this will be on a concentrated area.”

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Galloway is the creative lead of the Wet Paint Initiative. He said the community has appreciated the murals but only recently have residents noticed the projects are connected under a single banner.

That’s won them the continued support of Western Fair District and the American paint company Sherwin-Williams, along with several businesses which have become canvases. The murals themselves range from animals to celebrating music and the growing South Asian community.

The idea behind the initiative was to supplement the public arts programs in the city, while putting the opportunities and choices involved directly in the hands of local young artists, Galloway said.

“We’re all about creating new platforms for muralists and artists and to create direct lines and direct connections between the global culture and these kinds of best practices that we subscribe to, and then protect the artists in London,” he said.

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PHOTOS: ‘Urban art advocates’ brighten up London with public murals

One of the events that helped boost the group’s efforts was an adjacent campaign, The Wet Paint Express. Six artists painted six wagons from Picard’s Peanuts that were included in an exhibit at Western Fair District before being displayed at last year’s Santa Claus Parade.

One of the receiving businesses of the Wet Paint Initiative was Eastside Bar and Grill. Owner George Karigan said he was approached about the initiative during COVID, just after repainting the building. Given live music is a fixture of the bar, the artist incorporated that into the mural.

“There weren’t a whole lot of murals up and down the street, and our building is right at the corner of St. Julien and Hamilton Road, so it’s got great exposure,” he said. “It’s basically given a facelift to the building.”

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Now Karigan is pitching in to help commission a new piece on the north side of his building facing his parking lot, which continues the celebration of music with a Beatles theme, he said.

Stew Kraft’s Service Center has received three murals from the initiative: one on the roof facing the intersection of Adelaide and Hamilton, a full building mural in the back, and now a recently completed mural on a rear lot building facing Hamilton.

Mike Kraft, the co-owner, said he didn’t know what to expect but was amazed by the results, and customers regularly compliment the work and take pictures with it. Another mural for the front of the building with a checkerplate design is in the works, he said.

“It gives us the people driving by something to look at and maybe look at the business,” Kraft said. “When I do walk out (back) … I see people standing there taking pictures. I just smile.”

Going forward, Galloway said he hopes to forge a closer relationship with Tourism London to help fund and inform their work, and potentially get some murals in south London that he said is under-represented by public art.

“We’ve got a big year plan and we’d love for that to include south London,” he said. “We’re trying to get more support, so that we can keep forwarding our objectives, while also expanding our programming.”

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@jackmoulton65

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