It was a brilliant idea — turn 18 unused advertising spaces at CityCentre into canvasses where urban artists would do their thing. The result was a colorful, bold, exciting collection of murals that will be on display throughout the center during all of August.
On a recent evening hosted by Muir Fine Art Gallery, the creators of the large-scale pieces were feted among fans, sponsors and patrons of "The Mural Project @ CityCentre."
"By creating a cultural trail of beautiful murals," the organizers' mission statement reads, "we hope to extend urban art beyond Houston's inner-loop, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit MD Anderson Children's Art Project."
As part of the project, visitors were encouraged to create selfies with their favorite murals in order to enter them in a people's choice competition. On this night, Muir gallery director CJ Alvarez announced the winners with Verny Sanchezranking first, Anita Varadaraju coming in second and John Whaley Jr. earning third place. With that win the three artists earned a September exhibition of their works at Muir's Annex space next to Eddie V's in CityCentre.
Among guests welcomed by gallery owner John Lockhart were Brenda and Corky Hillhouse, Kelyne Reis, Kendra and Jimmy Houston, Angelika Millmaker, Candace Burns, John Logan Dickey, Karuna Rajanayakam, Peter Leach, Lisa Hardcorn and Raju Gandikota.
Rachel Bryant.
