Six artists, three weeks, three shipping containers, one Muralthon. Six new murals mark a step forward for Muralgarten, a unique destination that will combine public art and native plantings adjacent to The Shirt Factory in Glens Falls. The vision of Eric Unkauf (owner of The Shirt Factory) with the support of a board including Tom Myott, Hannah Williams, Kendra Farstad, and Matthew Martindale, Muralgarten seeks to give artists the creative freedom to paint what they want, in the style that they want.
We’re excited to introduce you to another one of the talented artists behind Muralthon’s six murals, Anthony Richichi, and his otherworldly mural, which gives us a peek through a keyhole into another dimension.
Tell us about yourself!
I’m a born and raised Glens Falls native and I work as a full-time artist right from my studio a few blocks from downtown. Although I’ve always made art for hours a day since I was a little kid, I didn’t make the leap out of my day job into a full-time paying art career until 2020 when I started work with Saratoga Springs Publishing.
Since my first gig there in Spring of 2020, I’ve illustrated over a dozen children’s books that have won nine national book awards. It’s a total dream come true to turn your passion into your career and the realization that it has happened makes me want to just keep working and sharing my art even more.
I’m able to work right from my hometown of Glens Falls and I balance the illustration work with freelance jobs for different clients including Marvel and numerous music festivals and bands.
On Becoming An Artist
I got my start as an artist as soon as my parents bought me my first crayons as a baby! I realized I could create visuals on paper from thin air by just using my imagination and my hand, and I’ve been hooked ever since.
I first exhibited my work in a gallery when I had three paintings selected for The Hyde Museum Regional High School exhibit during my years at Glens Falls High School. Throughout high school and community college, I never really thought that art could ever be a career. It always felt too second nature to me, and just like a fun hobby. I believed that to “work for a living” you have to “work”, and making art never felt like work.
It wasn’t until I met with Hannah Williams to start a painting collab in November 2012 that my mind exploded and I really felt I could make art for a living. I never went to art school outside of a handful of classes at ACC, but she showed me so much within myself that was dying to be let out with a paintbrush and I started painting and making art 50-60 hours a week from that day forward.
On Inspiration
I was really excited with the freedom Eric Unkauf gave the artists for this project to do anything we wanted for our design.
I immediately knew I wanted to do something surreal and imaginative. Working in the publishing and film industry, you really have to stick to the script — quite literally sometimes — and while there’s certainly room for your own creativity and style, there’s not always so much room with subject matter. For that reason, I wanted to go all out surreal and kind of tap back in to some of my earlier paintings and the otherworldly kind of space themes and keyholes into other dimensions.
I feel like art should make people wonder, think, and take them to new places for a moment as they view your work, and I was hoping to do that with this piece.
On Painting Outside
Nothing beats painting outside. I’m an avid plein air painter and there’s nothing like fresh air and the sound of nature around you, people to interact with, the breeze, the sun — I love it. The ribbed surface of the shipping container made for some technique changes when using spray paint but overall, it has been an immense amount of fun. I’ve definitely caught the mural bug — this was my first one this large and I’m definitely eager to do more of them.
Some Glens Falls Favorites
The art galleries! The Hyde Collection, LARAC’s Lapham and Mountain Gallery, North Country Arts gallery — there’s tons of wall space in this city and it’s so enjoyable to see the different exhibits year after year.
At any given time you can see anything from local first-time exhibitors, to nationally renown award-winning artists, to legends like Picasso, Van Gogh, and Rembrandt, all in a one-mile radius. It’s wild. After gallery tours, I’m definitely hitting up Mean Max Brewery then Downtown City Tavern for a pizza.
By The Way…
I’d like to say thank you to anyone and everyone out there supporting the arts, from going to concerts, to buying an art print from your artist friend, to reading books and watching movies, to being a creator yourself. Expressing yourself is one of the few things we have full control of in life. How we express ourselves and doing it creatively is a huge and positive outlet for all of us that anyone can tap into at any moment. Stay creative!!
