Holy moly, this new mural from Philly-based artist, Alloyius McIlwaine, is just freaking incredible!

Late last week, I was fortunate enough to get an email from Alloyius saying he was in the midst of painting his largest mural to-date and he invited me out this past Monday to shoot his last day installing. The new mural is locate at the intersection of 2nd street and Washington avenue (you can’t miss it!)

I followed up with Alloyius afterwards over email to chat more about his work…

Streets Dept (Conrad Benner): Every time I see you on Instagram it seems like you’re painting somewhere new! Can you tell us some places you currently have murals around the world?
Alloyius McIlwaine: I’m trying to paint at least one mural in all 50 states, and at least one mural on every continent, so I’m currently on a bit of a world tour! Some of the places where I’ve painted murals include: Paris, France, Casablanca, Morocco, Samara, Costa Rica, Windsor, Ontario, Miami, L.A., New Orleans, Portland, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Detroit, Washington, D.C., Rehoboth Beach, DE, Camden, Chanhassen, Minnesota, Crete, Illinois, and of course, my many murals in Philly.

SD: You grew up in Philly, right? Where at? Did you go to school here, and did you study art?
AM: I grew up in North Philly around Broad and Erie. I went to Friends Select School for high school, and for college I went to Neumann University. I actually went to school for business, so I’m a self-taught artist! I had art courses in school like everyone else, but my university didn’t have an art major when I attended the school, so I took business courses to learn how to become a successful artist.

SD: How long have you been an artist? How long have you been creating murals?
AM: I’ve been an artist since I was three years old, but I’ve been painting murals professionally for about five years now.

SD: This is your biggest mural yet, right? What are the dimensions?
AM: Yes it is! I’ve done taller murals before, and I’ve done wider murals, but this wall is by far the largest as far as total square footage. It’s Approximately 67ft x 50ft.

SD: How did this mural get started? Who commissioned it?
AM: I was contracted by a company called Streamline, who is developing the property that I painted on. They were looking for an artist to do a mural since beforehand it was just a giant, grey wall. And my friend Gemma referred them to me. They loved my work and the rest is history!

SD: Can you tell me more about the mural itself: It’s design? What inspired it? And how long it took you to make?
AM: The concept was that there would be an “S” shaped crack in the wall, and behind the crack, you would see all of this color and life! I freestyled 100% of the art that went inside of the crack, so it was all influenced by my emotion and the environment. It took five days to complete!

SD: What’s next for you?
AM: I have a charity function called ‘Beats and Eats’ on Monday that I’m painting a mural for, and I’m in talks to paint a hotel pool, so that will be a lot of fun! I have a fair amount of local murals until I go back to Paris in August; I’m also doing murals in London and Amsterdam while I’m in the area!

Thanks so much to Alloyius for the interview! (You can see pervious work from Alloyius on this blog here and here.) And y’all, if you’re not already, definitely be sure to follow him on Instagram. He’s one of the busiest Philly-based artists I know and he’s always creating.

One last thing: If you’re an artist who creates work in the public space, do what Alloyius did and email me when you do new work! Check out my Call to Artists HERE to read more and get my email.