Another art mural is going up in downtown Buffalo, but this time it’s not associated with the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. The Hamilton, ON-based company Collective Arts Brewing has partnered with Misuta Chow’s to paint their back entrance-- and the public can watch it happen this Saturday.
Once finished, the currently all black wall covered with vents facing away from Main Street will feature dragons to go along with the Japanese fusion theme of the restaurant.
Taka Sudo was hired from Vancouver to create the work and says he’s been doing murals now for about six years.
“People really like murals these days. It’s getting more popular. It’s been a trend,” Sudo said. “Every wall is different. Different textures, different (aspects). Every time it’s a different challenge. It’s pretty fun.”
Collective Arts Brewing New York State Sales and Market Representative Paulie Polizzi said he was their first choice.
“Japanese background. Lives in Vancouver. It ties in to Misuta Chow’s perfectly and Collective Arts being Canadian too,” Polizzi said. “Bringing all the life here. His style and the sketch he came up with just fits everything about Misuta Chow’s and we couldn’t ask for a better artist and a better choice for this project.”
Almost 50 artists submitted art portfolios for the project before they chose Sudo.
“We actually use local artists in Hamilton to pick the winners for us," said Polizzi. "We wanted to have that concept with Misuta Chow’s. They liked it, so we put it on our website where anyone could submit, specifically for Misuta Chow’s through Collective Arts. Taka was actually and artist that we’ve worked with before so it just worked out perfectly for us to have him to get him here.”
Saturday, weather permitting, there will be tents outside for the public to view Sudo painting the wall.
“I just got a picture of this wall. I was planning how I can pain the vents. Probably having the dragon head on the bottom and the body is coming up the vent areas,” said Sudo.
Polizzi said this is the first time they’ve done something like this in Western New York, but they plan to do more next year.
“I think it’s amazing. It’s cool because it’s the artist’s work,” Polizzi said. “I think it gets people excited. Just for Buffalo, people come out and see something that represents their town or something different. Even having someone international like Taka come in, his piece will always be in Buffalo. It’s cool. It’s like, this guy from Vancouver came and painted this. It’s going to be a piece of Buffalo with a connection.”
Misuta Chow’s will open early for the event at 12 p.m. Saturday.
