ST. LOUIS —The rattles of spray paint cans could be heard, and paint fumes could be smelled along the flood wall in Downtown St. Louis Friday as groups of graffiti artists from around the country worked on their murals.
The 26th annual Paint Louis is underway Sept. 1-3, just south of the Arch, where dozens of graffiti artists turned the flood wall into several murals ranging from horror themes, indigenous culture artwork and Japanese art to Bruce Lee and other colorful creations.
The floodwall is about 20 feet high and 1.5 miles long.
One mural is a tribute to John Carpenter’s “The Thing,” with a mix of classic horror and original artwork, said Eddie Rivera, a graffiti artist from Tampa, Fla.
“I’m a huge horror movie nut and have been painting this stuff for a while,” he said. “I’ve been drawing and painting since I was a kid.”
This weekend was Rivera's seventh year of participating in Paint Louis.
“It’s cool and I love St. Louis,” he said. “It’s always been an inviting town.”
Rivera worked collaboratively on “The Thing” inspired mural with friends from Oregon and California.
His inspiration for becoming a graffiti artist came after watching a 1980s documentary called “Style Wars.”
“It’s about kids painting subway trains in New York City. I was already a big fan of hip-hop culture and (graffiti) was another element of it,” Rivera said.
“I was just very envious that those kids were growing up in the city and I was growing up on an island where there weren't any buildings or subways at all. I feel like I still wanted to be a part of that conversation.”
Rivera officially became a graffiti artist while living in Philadelphia and said he has had an on and off relationship with the art style.
Saturn, from Portland, Ore., also worked on “The Thing” themed mural.
He has been doing graffiti for 22 years.
“I remember when I first got started, it was something that I wasn’t supposed to be doing, so that kind of attracted me to it,” he said. “I was like ‘Alright, I should get good at something,’ and this was in my scope.”
Throughout the weekend, the public has the chance to meet the artists, watch them work, and enjoy live music, vendors and food trucks.
A new children’s program called Paint Littles takes place during the event Saturday, Sept. 2, and Sunday, Sept. 3, from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Artists will teach children how to paint and the Missouri History Museum will host story time.
A graffiti group called Thoughts Manifested or TM came together to create fullerton Japanese art featuring five lions combined into one giant robot, among other artwork, according to Timber, a graffiti artist from Cincinnati, Ohio.
The group participates in graffiti festivals around the country.
Timber began in 1993 as a graffiti artist.
“For me, it’s a lifestyle and just what I love to do,” he said. “These kinds of events give me a chance to show off and compete with everyone else and show them what we’re capable of.”
He has been working on the mural since Monday and plans to finish on Labor Day.