Questions about murals and wall ads
How a hand-painted wall ad works, why paint instead of vinyl, the paint, the permits, the places we work and how to get a quote — answered by the crew that paints the walls.
Hand-painted wall advertising
What is a hand-painted wall ad?
A hand-painted wall advertisement — a wallscape, or a painted billboard — is a campaign laid onto the side of a building in paint, by painters on lifts, instead of printed on vinyl and hung. The artwork is the brand’s; we scale it to the wall and paint every letter, face and product by hand. Gucci in New York, 81 by 80 feet, and Johnnie Walker Blue over a corner in Manhattan are two of ours.
Why choose hand-painted instead of vinyl?
Because the paint is the wall rather than a skin hung on it: the brick and its mortar lines read through the picture, and there is no seam, panel edge or printed sheen. A wall going up by hand is also an event on the street, and the painting itself becomes content: many of the walls on this site were filmed as they went up. And the design is made for that one wall, round its corner as on the Red Bull wall, or down a tall, narrow face like Vitamin Water’s 9 by 20 feet.
Do you work with outdoor-media companies and wall owners?
Yes. A painted wall is often sold as media by the company that holds it, and we paint for them as well as for brands and their agencies: Rains, in Manhattan, was painted for AMC — Angel Media Co. Whoever the brief comes from, the job is the same: survey the wall, scale the artwork, paint it by hand and coat it.
Do you design the artwork, or paint ours?
A campaign wall starts from the campaign’s own image: a small picture that our prep scales and projects onto a massive canvas, gridded out on the wall and painted from a printed reference. If you are starting from an idea rather than finished artwork, tell us what the wall is for at the free consult and we will talk the design through.
Murals and portraits
How big can you paint?
Building scale is the everyday job. Crown Royal × Trail Blazers in Portland is 85 feet wide by 90 feet tall, Gucci in New York 81 by 80, and I Am Speaking: John Lewis in Rochester about 3,200 square feet. Our tallest wall is the dolphins in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, and the studio has painted more than 100,000 square feet so far, 25,000 of it in 2026.
Can you paint a portrait or a likeness?
Yes — faces are a large part of the work. The civil-rights portraits I Am Speaking: John Lewis and Malcolm X in Rochester and I Am A Man in Chicago; Antwuan on the Uber wall in San Francisco; Dexter for Showtime in Boston; and A$AP Rocky × Ray-Ban in New York. The Portraits filter on the Work page has them all.
Do you paint community and public murals?
Yes. Public works are their own strand of the work: community walls, civil-rights portraits and teen-empowerment murals, in Kenya, Brazil, Mexico, Rochester and New York. The Flower City Arts Center wall, on the underpass by the ballpark in Rochester, was painted with the arts center, 25 feet wide by 50 feet tall.
How long does a mural take?
It depends on the size of the wall, its surface, how the crew can reach it and the weather. We look at all four before we commit to a date, and the schedule comes with the quote.
Paint and preservation
What surfaces can you paint?
Many of our walls are brick — SoHo and lower Manhattan are full of them — and we have painted concrete, as on the Flower City underpass in Rochester. Every wall starts with a survey of the surface, the light and how the paint will weather, and the prep follows from what the survey finds.
What paint do you use?
Whatever the wall needs to last. There is a science to paint: we analyze the way the paint will decay over time and how the light will affect its colour, so we use only what we need and what will last, and we mix the colour for the wall it is going on.
How do you protect a mural from graffiti and the weather?
Preservation is the last of our three stages. When the mural is finished we apply an environmentally friendly coating that makes it easy to clean any future vandalism without damaging the artwork.
Working with us
Do you handle permits and landlord approvals?
We work with the wall owner and with the city’s requirements as part of the project, and we plan the job — lifts, access, the street below — around them. Approval itself is the owner’s and the city’s to give, so tell us in the brief who owns the wall and what you already know, and we will work through it with you.
Do you work outside New York?
Yes. We are based in New York and paint nationwide and abroad — in Kenya, Brazil, San Francisco, San Diego, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Austin, Chicago, Rochester and Brockport, among others, and in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico. Where we paint has the walls city by city.
How do I get a quote?
Book a free consult: fill in the brief or email hello@openairgallery.art. Tell us the wall, the city and roughly how big it is — a photo of the wall is enough to start — and we will come back with a plan and a price.
How much does a mural cost?
It depends on the size of the wall, the surface, the access and the design, so there is no price list: every wall is quoted after the consult. The brief asks for a budget range, so the plan we come back with fits it.
Do you paint signs and banners?
Yes: hand-lettered signage and painted banners for storefronts and campaigns, done with the same brush as the walls. Every letter on the Fords Gin wall, glass and olives and all, was laid on by hand.
Graffiti removal and commercial painting
Do you do graffiti removal?
Yes — in NYC, for business owners and residences. We analyze the surface the graffiti is on and use the right stripping technique for it, and we pressure-wash stains, moss and dirt from sidewalks, stairs, windows and the outside of buildings. Send us a picture of the space and we will send back a quote and a date. Graffiti removal has the details.
Do you do commercial painting?
Yes: facades, interiors and the fresh coat a surface needs once the graffiti is off or the wall is clean, applied by a team of professional muralists. Commercial painting has more.
Still got a question?
Ask it at the free consult. Tell us the wall, the city and roughly how big it is. We will come back with a plan and a price.