Buffalo, NY – Today the Albright-Knox, in conjunction with the Ciminelli Real Estate Corporation, announced the creation of a new mural at Ciminelli’s 201 Ellicott Street project. The large-scale public artwork, which will be on the building’s façade, is an important part of the mixed-use development project that includes affordable housing and a fresh food market. Texas-based artist Josef Kristofoletti (American, born Transylvania, 1980) will create a bright, colorful mural on the building’s north side. Work is expected to begin June 8 and take approximately eighteen days to complete.

Paul Ciminelli, President and CEO of Ciminelli Real Estate Corporation, commented, “We couldn’t be more excited about delivering another unique canvas for public art in the City of Buffalo. This mural adds a special vibrancy to a highly anticipated project at 201 Ellicott. Public art projects bring excitement and energy to the street level and strengthen the fabric we are all working so hard to build upon.”

Born in Nagyvárad, Transylvania, Kristofoletti’s work primarily consists of murals that address ideas about nature, technology, space, and architecture. He was an artist-in-residence at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. As a founding member of the artist collective Transit Antenna, he traveled throughout North America as part of a mobile living experiment that engaged local communities through public interventions. His work has appeared in several publications including Wired, PBS News Hour, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Boston Globe, Fast Company, and Symmetry Magazine. In 2013, he represented the United States at the Bienal del Sur en Panamá, in Panama City. Kristofoletti is currently completing a large-scale mural in Nashville, Tennessee, that uses remarkable combinations of colors to create a vivid abstract composition that is immediately recognizable as the artist’s.

“The Public Art Initiative is delighted to be working with Ciminelli Real Estate Corporation on yet another bright and exciting mural for Western New Yorkers,” said Aaron Ott, Curator of Public Art at the Albright-Knox. “Each year brings with it a full slate of new projects, and this year is no different. We are thrilled to be working with an artist of Josef’s caliber, and can’t wait to see his design completed.”

201 Ellicott Street

201 Ellicott Street will welcome a diverse group of residents to the city’s core by offering 201 affordable one-and two-bedroom apartments adjacent to the much- anticipated Braymiller Market. In addition to an excellent location and proximity to the market, tenants of 201 Ellicott will enjoy laundry facilities on each floor, outdoor community space, a transit shelter on site, and other exciting amenities. This site will be one of the first “mobility hubs” for downtown Buffalo, providing residents and the community with a place of alternative transportation opportunities, supporting the idea of vibrant, livable, and walkable communities. Both components will be completed this year, with the anticipated market opening in late spring, and the residential complex opening in the fall.

Ciminelli Real Estate Corporation

Headquartered in Buffalo, New York, Ciminelli Real Estate Corporation specializes in providing commercial real estate services including development, facilities management, asset management, tenant representation, real estate consulting, and leasing to over 350 international, national, and local clients in New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut.

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The Albright-Knox’s Public Art Initiative is an innovative partnership between the museum and the County of Erie established in 2013 to enhance our shared sense of place and cultural identity in the urban and suburban landscapes of Western New York. 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 socially engage with, actively respond to, and cooperatively produce great public art that is capable of empowering individuals, creating stronger neighborhoods, and establishing Western New York as a critical cultural center.

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