This past week, a team of internationally acclaimed street artists worked on a mural for the north-facing wall of the
Boone Block Lofts in downtown Covington. The
London Police, who are from Amsterdam, will be incorporating their iconic “lad” character into the mural, which is part of the Boone Block Living Art Wall.
A team of four artists, headed by the two founders of the London Police, will create the 40-foot-by-40-foot mural. The three-story wall that will house the mural will also be a vertical garden for mixed-media installations of art and plants.
Funding from the
Greater Cincinnati Foundation launched the mural component of the initiative, and fundraising for the remainder of the project is ongoing.
A “lad” was previously painted on the building to mark that the London Police would be back to finish covering the wall. The first green elements of the installation will be built on a trellis at street-level as fundraising continues.
The mural will pay homage to Mike Amann, the founder of
BLDG, who passed away in 2013. He helped start the international street art movement in Covington, and played a huge part in bringing artists like the London Police,
Vhils and
Faille to the city. BLDG is curating the Boone Block installation.
The London Police is known for their lad characters and precision marking, as well as encouraging public engagement. Their body of work spans 16 years and appears in over 35 countries all around the world. The London Police recently did installations at the
Quin Hotel in New York,
The Coney Art Walls project at Coney Island and Sun Life Stadium in Miami; they were last in Covington in 2013.
The mural will bring together two aspects of downtown Covington’s revitalization efforts: public art and the restoration of historic properties. Other public art installations include the
Curb’d parklets;
Hotel Covington, which opens on Sept. 27; and several other residential projects.
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.