Buffalo, NY – The Albright-Knox Art Gallery’s Public Art Initiative will soon complete a massive mural by artist Louise Jones (American, born 1988) at the Sinclair Building, located at 465 Washington Street. The Sinclair was recently redeveloped and is currently managed by Ciminelli Real Estate Corporation, and serves as the 80-foot-tall by 160-foot-wide canvas for the mural. It is the largest mural of Jones’s career and the largest in the Western New York region.

“We are thrilled to add yet another stunning mural to the list of Public Art Initiative projects throughout Buffalo and Erie County,” said Albright-Knox Curator of Public Art Aaron Ott. “As the largest mural in Western New York, this one will be hard to miss. We’re delighted with the amount of positive feedback we’ve already received from nearby residents and businesses, and we can’t wait to hear what more people have to say.”

Paul Ciminelli, President and CEO of Ciminelli Real Estate Corporation, commented, “We couldn’t be more excited about the addition of this spectacular mural to the streetscape of the City of Buffalo. Public art projects bring excitement and energy to the street level and strengthen the fabric we are all working so hard to build upon.”

Jones’s mural draws inspiration from the building’s original tenant: an early-twentieth-century hat manufacturer. Based on conversations with building owners, historians, and horticulturalists, Jones has incorporated aspects of period design, hatpins, and flora native to the Western New York region into her composition. Her design builds on the dynamic and often borderless floral motifs found in her public works.

Jones is a Detroit-based, globe-trotting artist with a robust mural practice. She has executed work in Los Angeles, Detroit, New York, and Shanghai, among other major international cities.

Other recent Albright-Knox Public Art Initiative projects include Robert Indiana’s NUMBERS ONE through ZERO sculptures at Wilkeson Pointe; White Bicycle’s mural We Are Here at 1260 Hertel Avenue; Chuck Tingley and Matt Grote’s mural weego at 1503 Hertel Avenue; Otecki’s (Wojciech Kołacz) mural Work and Play at 617 Fillmore Avenue; The Freedom Wall, completed by artists John Baker, Julia Bottoms, Chuck Tingley, and Edreys Wajed at the intersection of Michigan Avenue and East Ferry Street; Betsy Casañas’s mural Patria, Será Porque Quisiera Que Vueles, Que Sigue Siendo Tuyo Mi Vuelo (Homeland, Perhaps It Is Because I Wish to See You Fly, That My Flight Continues to Be Yours) at 585 Niagara Street; Keir Johnston and Ernel Martinez’s mural Welcome Wall at 751 Fillmore Avenue; Bunnie Reiss's mural Magic Buffalo at 1322 Hertel Avenue; Shantell Martin’s mural Dance Everyday at 537 East Delavan Avenue; Daniel Galas’s mural 72 Jewett at 74 Jewett Avenue; Amanda Browder’s Spectral Locus installation at three separate locations throughout Buffalo; Alice Mizrachi’s mural Dream Keepers at the Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology; Roberley Bell’s Locus Amoenus installation at the Tifft Nature Preserve; Jessie Unterhalter and Katey Truhn’s mural Noodle in the Northern Lights at Shea’s 710 Theatre; Kaarina Kaikkonen’s installation We Share a Dream at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport; Jenny Kendler’s Milkweed Dispersal Balloons and ReWilding New York (Community Seed Stations), a two-fold work that took place over the summer of 2015; Shayne Dark’s 2015 exhibition Natural Conditions and residency at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens; Jaume Plensa’s Silent Poets at Canalside; Casey Riordan’s Shark Girl at Canalside; Tape Art’s Buffalo Caverns, a massive, temporary mural made with low-adhesive drawing tape on the north wall of the Central Library branch of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library; a billboard- and sticker-based iteration of Matthew Hoffman’s You Are Beautifulproject, made possible in part through a partnership with Lamar Advertising; and Charles Clough’s collaboratively produced Hamburg Arena Painting, which is installed at the Hamburg Public Library. The Public Art Initiative has also distributed 30,000 art kits to students throughout Erie County.

The Public Art Initiative is an innovative partnership between the Albright-Knox and Erie County established in 2013. The City of Buffalo joined the partnership in 2014. The goal of the Initiative is to create spaces of dialogue where diverse communities have the ability to engage, respond, and cooperatively produce great public art that can empower individuals, create stronger neighborhoods, and establish Western New York as a vital cultural center.

###