Good news for fans of street art and larger-than-life murals: Unlike just about everything else this summer, CRUSH Walls isn’t canceled. The vibrant street art festival that paints RiNo red (and blue, and lavender, and, well, every other color) each year, will still be spraying September1 4-20, albeit a little differently.
“Instead of doing events where we have big groups of people coming together, we’re having to refocus and make sure the artists feel safe and that anyone who’s coming out and walking the streets is also safe,” says Festival Founder Robin Munro (aka Dread).
That means more of an online experience, with livestreams of the 80-plus artists working their magic on RiNo walls. Here are two teams of artists you won’t want to miss.
What we’re crushing on:
Thomas “Detour” Evans & Max Sansing
Denver’s Detour and Chicago’s Sansing have a lot in common—the killer ability to blend abstract with realism, a keen eye for color, and a deep love for their respective communities. Both artists take inspiration from their neighborhoods, portraying people in their work who aren’t typical art subjects, thus bringing them and their stories to our attention in bold, visually stunning murals. For CRUSH 2020, Detour and Sansing will lead a team of all Black artists, and we can’t wait to see the results.
Instagram: @detour303; @maxsansing
Alexandrea Pangburn & Romelle
Both founding members of Babe Walls, a festival celebrating women and non-binary artists in the street art scene, Pangburn and Romelle will team up to create a wall for CRUSH 2020. Pangburn’s work explores nature and western themes in a realistic way, while Romelle is all abstract brightness, so look for a collaboration that probes the magic of flora and fauna, like the bewitching giant blue heron they created for CRUSH 2019.
Instagram: @alexandrea_pang @r0melle
