“About five years ago, (my wife and I) were in a la lucie’s having dinner and I went over and introduced myself to (LexArts president) Jim Clark,” Lawyer remembers. “I said, ‘You know, I think we need murals downtown, and I think a perfect place would be this huge wall with no windows behind my parking lot.’”
Lawyer wasn’t referring to his own building at the time, but finds it interesting that his wish came back to him when Todorova and local artist Georgia Henkel approached him about using his building for this project. While he was skeptical at first, feeling that Herakut’s art might be too dark, he was sold immediately when he saw the mock-up drawing.
“We don’t have anything to do with it – we just happened to have this building and they happened to like the wall,” Lawyer said. “I’m just delighted that people like Kremena and Kurt could put the energy to have this come to Lexington, my hat’s off to all of those that put it together.”
John Winters, another street art enthusiast, said that he loves that Herakut has “taken a blank wall at the back of a surface parking lot and transformed a vista.”
“Their art is so amazing and to have them create two pieces that Lexington can enjoy is breathtaking,” he said. “To be able to interact with them, ask questions, watch them work, and see the progress has been invaluable.”
Winters is one of the organizers of PRHBTN, a local art and music show that celebrates the culture of creative street are that will mark its second year on Oct. 5 at Buster’s Billiards & Backroom. The event, which aims to create a space where artists can “expose the public to another side the street art culture” was inspired after he and co-organizer Jessica Case watched a handful of documentaries celebrating street art, including “Exit Through the Gift Shop” and “WildStyle.”
“We love to see people walk through, stop by, ask questions, and show genuine interest in the art. By raising the awareness of street art we hope to not only encourage appreciation of the art form but maybe it will inspire others to create,” Winters said. “We feel that a community is empty without art whether it is in a gallery or on the street.”
Hera added that the community’s engagement with this process is a validation for their entire motive to create art.
“It’s all about love and sharing,” she said. “That’s why we work; that’s why we do art. We want to communicate, we want to raise questions, we want to communicate, we want to engage – it’s about putting a seed out there and seeing what happens.”
