98 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 12.14
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One
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For two weeks in November, Mario
Muller was in town touching up
the mural he painted in 1993 at
the Kentucky Center's below-
street-level patron drop-off. The
22 concrete panels — 10 featuring
black-and-white silhouetted street
scenes, interspersed with various
colors (including "apple green") —
stretch for 245 feet and are almost
10 feet tall. "It's dingy," said Muller,
wearing a Lakers hoodie (he lives in
L.A.). While working, headphones
played Nicki Minaj in his paint-
smudged ears. The 52-year-old,
who grew up in New York and lived
in Louisville in the '80s and '90s (he
co-founded Zephyr Gallery), also
has permanent pieces at the airport
and Baxter Avenue Theatres (yep,
he did those murals of famous flm
faces). "When I lived here, I littered
Louisville with my work," Muller
said. "Littered is the wrong word."
What's it like revisiting a piece
you did in '93?
"Mimicking each line is a really
interesting time warp. It's like
meeting my 31-year-old self. But
I like what I see. (He points to a
woman's painted silhouette.) That's
the sexiest high heel I've ever seen."
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