Not every brand wall is a billboard
Some brand murals sell a campaign. Others are about a place, a collaboration or a face. Tecovas announced its New York store on a brick wall in lower Manhattan — “Now Open | 105 Wooster” under a man at the wheel of a pale blue pickup. Christian Louboutin × Shun Sudo put crossed legs and red soles over the painter Shun Sudo’s blossoms, four storeys up. CB2 × Kravitz Design stood a figure in a furnished room on a red wall with One World Trade over it.
What they share is the hand. Every one of them was painted on the wall, from the lift, by our crew — the brand’s own image, scaled to the building it is on.
Faces, products and lettering
Faces. A$AP Rocky in Ray-Bans for A$AP Rocky × Ray-Ban, painted over the traffic from a boom lift; Antwuan on the Uber wall in San Francisco, 62 by 23 feet; Dexter for Showtime in Boston; a black-and-white portrait for Sam Edelman, the lettering and the face alike by hand.
Products. The Blue Label bottle on the Johnnie Walker Blue wall, its glass shaded by hand; the jar of cream on La Prairie; the bottle at the foot of Monkey 47’s jungle of leaves and birds.
Lettering. Every letter of Fords Gin’s “New York, thank you for the Martini,” glass and olives with it; NEW YORK CITY and WIDOW JANE in white stencil type down a black wall for Widow Jane, 19 by 36 feet.
New York, and wherever the store is
Most of the brand murals on this site are in New York — SoHo, lower Manhattan and around the city — and we paint them nationwide: Victoria’s Secret in Austin for Pink, Uber in San Francisco, Crown Royal × Trail Blazers in Portland and Upendo in Los Angeles. Where we paint has them city by city.
Our three stages
Mural prep
When it comes to mural creations, it starts from a small image and explodes onto a massive canvas. It takes meticulous prep work to ensure that the scale of the image is appropriately captured. The ability to scale and project is what differs an artist and a muralist.
Paint analysis
There is a science to paint and an understanding for the preservation of the environment. We analyze the way the paint will decay over time and how the light will affect its color. This intensive process allows us to use only what we need and what will last.
Mural preservation
After the completion of the mural, we understand the fears of clients regarding vandalism and degradation. We take this into account and apply environmentally friendly coating that will make it easy to clean any future vandalism without damaging the art work.
Walls we have painted
Sam Edelman
New York, NY
Christian Louboutin × Shun Sudo
New York, NY
A$AP Rocky × Ray-Ban
New York, NY
Tecovas
New York, NY
CB2 × Kravitz Design
New York, NY
Fords Gin
New York, NYMore: Hand-painted wall advertising · Building murals · Commercial painting · Graffiti removal · Murals by city · All the work
Questions, answered
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
More in the full FAQ.
Got a brand wall in mind?
Tell us the wall, the city and roughly how big it is. We will come back with a plan and a price.