District Bar

District Bar sits in Ankeny Alley in Old Town, just steps from Voodoo Doughnut, and the owners wanted their exterior to match the energy inside. We paired them with a local graffiti artist known for blending photorealistic animals with loose, abstract graffiti shapes and tags, someone who could match the bar's gray and black palette, dim lighting, and wheat pasted pop culture canvases without losing that edge outdoors.

The artist landed on a street pigeon as the mural's subject, which sounds like a strange pick until you think about it: pigeons are social, they travel in packs, and they own the sidewalks of downtown well into the night, not unlike the crowd at a nightclub. He painted it in blue and gray with a flash of purple and green at the neck and bright orange eyes, a streetlight glowing behind its head almost like a halo, surrounded by graffiti squiggles, tree branches, and the kind of power poles and wires you actually see on that block. He finished the whole thing in two days, fast for work with that much detail.

The owners loved it so much they bragged about it to their neighbors at Valentine's Bar, who came to us wanting the same artist for their own patio. He took real care making sure the two murals, sitting side by side, complemented each other while staying true to each bar's own personality, different animals, different colors, same eye for detail. Between the two bars, word kept spreading, and other small businesses in the area started reaching out wanting the same kind of art direction for their own spaces.

Have a space that needs the right artist and someone to manage the whole thing? Kali Grey can curate the artist, shape the concept, and handle the full installation from start to finish. Reach out and let's talk about your building.