New Mural Honors Healthcare Workers

A new southside mural, “Frontline Heroes,” from artist Mauricio Ramirez is designed as a tribute to healthcare workers and as a message of positivity to all during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I hope to have people take away that we need to champion our healthcare workers as they battle on the frontlines,” said Ramirez in an interview.

The mural, located at the intersection of S. 6th St. and W. Lincoln Ave. across from the Basilica of Saint Josaphat, depicts a masked healthcare worker with their hands clasped in prayer.

Located on the east wall of a two-story commercial building at 600 W. Lincoln Ave., “Frontline Heroes” is 15 feet tall and over 30 feet long. Spray painting the piece took over 16 hours he said.

Ramirez said he approached the building owner, Milton Rivera, and did the piece for free. “As an artist I wanted to create something colorful that can add to the Lincoln Village neighborhood,” said Ramirez. “The design was a direct response from all of the negative news that has been flooding our social media and TVs.” He said the location is important to him, having gone to the Basilica for so many major life events including weddings and baptisms.

Ramirez said he hopes healthcare workers across the world see it and can be proud of the work they’re doing. “This isn’t just a local mural, it’s a global mural,” he said.

If something about it seems familiar, trust your instincts. Ramirez has become a prolific artist and has a distinctive style that relies on geometric shapes. His biggest piece, a 5,000-square-foot piece known as “Heat and Sol,” can be seen on the side of Westown office building. He also repainted utility boxes on Wisconsin Avenue as part of Milwaukee Downtown’s 2017 effort to turn the bland boxes into canvases for art. Just in Milwaukee he has murals in Bay View, Historic Mitchell Street, Walker’s Point, the Lower East Side and the Crisol Corridor. He also has murals in a growing number of other cities, including New York, Chicago and Baltimore.

Photos

Painting Timelapse

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Here’s a time-lapse that my cousin Alex documented while I was painting a mural in Milwaukee, WI. The mural is a tribute to all of our health care workers that are currently fighting this battle. My goal with this mural was to show love and appreciate our Frontline Heroes in the medical field. Be sure to thank a healthcare workers today. Time-lapse by: @lexwiththerecords Assisted by: @mazorcamke @heartbreaksandhennessy @armahnhammer Frontline Heroes 15ft x 30ft 600 W. Lincoln Avenue Milwaukee, WI 2020

A post shared by Mauricio Ramirez (@mauriciopaints) on Apr 11, 2020 at 9:53am PDT