When the hundreds of teens and twenty-somethings in Pittsburgh for the One Young World Summit head for home Monday, more than just money will be left behind. A mural celebrating the event has been installed on a building at the corner of Market Street and the Boulevard of the Allies in downtown Pittsburgh.
Kyle Hollbrook is the artist behind the mural. He says he and his organization, Moving the Lives of Kids, jumped at the chance to do the work. He approached the work with the idea of capturing the event as a snapshot in time.
“Pittsburghers and ideas from young Pittsburghers can reach the world,” said Hollbrook as he described the work. “People doing work right now are making snapshots for the future and are able to reach the world.”
Hollbrook said it is not enough just to make art and put it on the wall. “Doing art for social reasons and using art as a vehicle to draw attention to social issues… is one of the jobs of any artist.”
Hollbrook feels he has loaded the work with meaning. Along with the theme of sending ideas to the world, Hollbrook said the mural points to the future being endless, the future being open to everyone with a positive attitude, and he says the work is a reminder to seize the day.
All of that might not be apparent to someone driving by the mural this weekend.
“Public art is part of society, it becomes part of everyday life… so people will have the opportunity to notice things over the years,” said Hollbrook. The mural is designed to last 25 years and Hollbrook said unlike art in a gallery, people do not have to go out of their way to see it.
