Colossal Media
| Industry | Outdoor advertising |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2004 |
| Founders | Adrian Moeller and Paul Lindahl |
Key people | Kelly Peppers (CEO) |
| Products | Murals and billboards painting |
| Website | colossalmedia |
Colossal Media is a hand-painted outdoor advertising company which operates billboards, sign paintings and mural paintings in the United States. The company was founded by Adrian Moeller and Paul Lindhal in 2004, and is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. The company has over 100 locations in the United States. They reportedly create more than 400 to 500 murals yearly.[1][2] Kelly Peppers is the CEO of the company.[3]
History
Colossal Media was founded in 2004 by advertising painter Paul Lindahl and, his friends and Mass Appeal magazine publishers, Adrian Moeller and late Patrick Elasik. The co-founders started the business from a garage in Park Slope area of Brooklyn painting murals for video games, beverages, and street artists. As of 2018, Colossal Media leased 120 walls in 100 locations in United States[4][5] with 80 employees in all of its offices.[6][7] By 2019, it was the leading hand-painted outdoor advertising company worldwide.[8]
Colossal Media has worked with brands including Stella Artois, Apple, Nike, Coca-Cola, Google, Delta, Samsung and Gucci,[9][10][11][12] artist Ed Ruscha[13] and have also painted a mural for the cover of New York's 2016 Fall Preview issue.[14]
Process
Colossal Media's in-house creative studio breaks down the artwork using contour line work to separate form, value, and color. Then the artwork is scaled to the size of the wall, using a grid in a darkroom, and transferred onto large butcher paper using a pounce pen, which burns tiny holes anywhere a line is drawn. The painters, using suspended scaffolding or use scissor lifts and boom lifts, pounce the artwork on the wall by unrolling the previously made patterns and rubbing over the small holes with charcoal dust. This transfers the rough design onto the wall. Then the wall is painted using the custom-mixed colors by hand.[15][16]
References
- ^ Trullinger, Irene (December 18, 2016). "In the digital age, this company is painting the line between street art and advertisements". NBC News.
- ^ "Hand-Crafted Is So in Right Now--And This Company Is Capitalizing On It". Fast Company. May 1, 2018.
- ^ Wesper, Drake (February 3, 2021). "Colossal Media Wants to Grow". billboardinsider.com.
- ^ Keiles, Jamie Lauren (January 29, 2018). "Hipster Culture and Instagram Are Responsible for a Good Thing (Published 2018)". The New York Times.
- ^ "Popup City: The Next Trend in Outdoor is Paint". billboardinsider.com. July 9, 2016.
- ^ Dahler, Don (March 17, 2018). "Street art goes corporate with hand-painted advertisements". CBS News.
- ^ "Artists Scale Buildings to Hand Paint Billboards Online". ABC News. November 2, 2018.
- ^ Sowa, Emily; Hartmann, Josh (February 7, 2019). "Colossal Media artists hang off the sides of buildings to hand paint massive billboards". ABC7NY New York.
- ^ Gardner, Ralph Jr. (May 20, 2010). "Resurgence of a Dying Art". Wall Street Journal.
- ^ Keiles, Jamie Lauren (January 29, 2018). "Hipster Culture and Instagram Are Responsible for a Good Thing (Published 2018)". The New York Times.
- ^ Dahler, Don (March 17, 2018). "Street art goes corporate with hand-painted advertisements". CBS News.
- ^ Spellings, Sarah (May 22, 2018). "Exclusive: Watch How Soho's Gucci Wall Gets Painted". The Cut.
- ^ "Cecilia Alemani on Ed Ruscha's High Line Commission". The High Line. May 23, 2014.
- ^ Starke, Lauren. "On the Cover: Fall Preview Mural". New York.
- ^ Narishkin, Abby; Cameron, Steve (November 14, 2020). "How $150,000 hyperrealistic murals come to life". Business Insider.
- ^ "Colossal Media 15-Year Anniversary Book". Issuu. p. 70.