This list involves a lot of blood, sweat and tears. The artists who venture out of the gallery and take to the streets to paint their murals are among the most hardworking in the city. Narrowing it down to ten is a near-impossible task, but subjectively, we have chosen our favorite artwork added to the city in 2015. Here are the ten best murals painted in Denver this year.

10. "Larimer Boy and Girl," by Jeremy Burns

2732 Larimer Street

Jeremy Burns has been a studio artist for the past decade; he began painting large-scale murals over a year ago, following a car accident that seriously injured his right shoulder. “Larimer Boy and Girl” is his largest to date. To absorb the full, visceral glory of this giant optical illusion, move quickly past it in either direction along Larimer; the building looks like it’s been dipped in turquoise paint as the fragmented boy and girl figures climb their way up the metal faces on both the warehouse’s north and south sides. Keep your eye out for more of Burns’s characters hidden around the city.

Paint the Town- The Ten Best New Street Murals of Spring.

9. "Slow Ride," by Jaime Molina, Pedro Barrios, and Joseph Martinez

3729 Walnut Street

The Palabros — aka Jaime Molina, Joseph Martinez and Pedro Barrios — are at it again. This trio of artists has collaborated on some imaginative street art in the Mile High City before, including a favorite on the Cherry Creek Bike Path near REI, at the confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte. New Belgium sponsored this Palabros piece, which was painted in the spring of 2015 and is located on the north-facing wall of Walnut Liquors in RiNo. The work is inspired by the “couch bike” on New Belgium’s Slow Ride beer label, but in true Palabros fashion, the artists have added their own touches, even modifying and making the waves of blue in the background more whimsical halfway through the process. Their work never fails to tell a story.

Paint the Town- The Ten Best New Street Murals of Spring.

8. Agustina Woodgate

RedLine, Confluence Park

This Argentinian artist has included Denver in her epic, worldwide street-art mission. The piece here, "Hopscotch Denver," was painted with numbers in a series that stretches from here to North Carolina, Miami, Argentina and Poland. According to Agustina Woodgate, the work is "an ongoing site-specific street intervention inspired by the ancient popular street game, except this one is hundreds of numbers long. The expanded game reminds us of our innocence while exhausting as our urban surroundings."

Continue reading the twenty best street-art murals of Summer 2015.

7. Delton Demarest on Cross Genetics

4902 Smith Road

Delton Demarest spent the summer creating portraits of musicians — Amy Winehouse, Biggie Smalls, Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jerry Garcia — who we wish were still alive today. It's all part of his larger-than-life triptych mural project on the garage doors of the new Cross Genetics recreational-medical dispensary and grow warehouse on Smith Road. You'll be able to see the pieces from the light-rail route that will cross by this exact spot. Demarest's work leans to the realistic, but these portraits border on abstract, capturing creative, tortured souls. "It's kind of cool to breathe life back into them in a weird way," he says.

Delton Demarest Paints the Town on Cross Genetics Mural, in Sun Valley.



6. Mario Zoots and Kevin Hennessy

2800 block of the alley between Larimer and Walnut streets

Mario Zoots was one of our 100 Colorado Creatives in 2014, and he’s received national praise in publications like Juxtapoz. Kevin Hennessy has collaborated with Zoots in the past, creating a collage mural for 3121 East Colfax Avenue that has since been painted over; they worked together again on another mural brought to us by the NAMTA project. “It’s stream-of-consciousness,” Zoots says of their creative collaboration. “We didn’t draft or plan it out, really; we just like to see where it takes us.” Their collaboration is harmonious, as evidenced by the bricolage of the interactive blue and green elements. The text and tattoo-esque details are painted by Hennessy, while the bizarre character faces and colorful explosions are by Zoots. And the three cartoon characters were painted with the help of artist Mike Weiss. Peg-Leg Pete and Quick Draw McGraw are easy to spot, but finding the third character requires a street-art scavenger hunt.

Paint the Town- The Ten Best New Street Murals of Spring.

5. Hyland Mather and Scott Albrecht

2700 Larimer Street

Scott Albrecht and Hyland Mather collaborated on this new River North mural, popping off the wall next to the "Larimer Boy and Girl" by Jeremy Burns. The piece was curated by Like Minded Productions and coincided with Albrecht's show at Svper Ordinary Gallery in August. Follow Albrecht and Mather on Instagram.

Keep reading Twenty Amazing New Street-Art Murals in Denver.



4. Greetings Tour

1695 Platte Street

Wish you were beer! Denver Beer Co. sanctioned this amazing "Greetings From Denver" mural painted by the national touring artists initiative Greetings Tour, made up of mural artist Victor Ving and photographer Lisa Beggs. The second "E" was painted by Denver native Jolt, with his Guerilla Garden signature and incorporation of the northside neighborhood he grew up in. The Greetings Tour has a letter guide attached to each of its unique, mural postcard stops: "D – Denver skyline, Gold Nuggets, E – Winter sports, Denver Beer Co, The Rockies, N – Denver Art Museum, Red Rocks, V – Union Station, E – Local Artist: Jolt, R – Denver Nuggets, Broncos, Denver Airport." And, of course, the Rockies in the background.

Twenty Amazing New Street-Art Murals in Denver Summer 2015.

3. David Shillinglaw

2625 Larimer Street, Denver

David Shillinglaw is a London-based artist who exhibited the energy of a thousand suns as he painted this massive mural found on the north-facing wall of the Matchbox's back patio. The Brit incorporated a pop-acid bricolage of layered faces and text, primary colors and an unapologetic point of view that made his first visit to the Denver scene a great one.

Meet the Artists Behind the Murals of Colorado Crush 2015.

2. Mariano Padilla and Michael Ortiz

2600 Larimer Street

The IMAC building, a former vacant eyesore in River North, has been given new life by the talented trio of Mariano Padilla, Michael Ortiz and Jonathan Lamb. Padilla is an Argentinian artist who travels the world painting; he'll head to Los Angeles following his month-long Denver visit. Ortiz grew up in Pueblo; he and business partner/artist Lamb have created an artists' initiative called Like Minded Productions, redefining Denver's arts scene in the process. This is one of six murals painted last month for the NAMTA mural project, sponsored by Liquitex, which called for urban renewal in the RiNo area.

Ten More Great New Murals in Denver in 2015.

1. The Meininger Art Wall

499 Broadway, Denver

The Meininger Art Wall, which made our list of the twenty amazing summer murals, took several months to complete, as it involved seven artists. Equipped with a grant from the city, Judd Meininger, who is part of the family that owns Meininger Art Supply, commissioned seven of the most talented artists in Denver to create side-by-side works on the two-story wall; he even provided them with a lift to use. From left to right, the wall features work by artists Amanda Marie, Molly Bounds, Gamma Acosta, Caleb Hahne, Pedro Barrios, Victoriano Rivera and Jaime Molina.

Meet the seven artists creating the Meininger Art Wall.

