Drive through Louisville neighborhoods like Butchertown, Phoenix Hill, or the Highlands, and you might see graffiti—or at least, attempts by property owners to erase graffiti. Scribbled, scratched, or sprayed on surfaces in public places, these writings and drawings are usually illegal but are nonetheless a valid form of visual communication. Minneapolis-based artist Peyton Scott Russell will challenge the traditional view of graffiti in an artist talk at 21c Museum Hotel (700 W. Main St.) on Thursday, July 10.
“Graffiti is an artistic act of disruption. And that disruption sets us free,” says the graffiti arts community SPRAYFiNGER in their mission statement. Founded by Russell, members of the SPRAYFiNGER community “find freedom in the flow of working with spray paint, in experimenting with color and line making, practicing the art of creative lettering, and moving the aesthetics of graffiti into new mediums and contexts.” The organization works to reframe the perception of graffiti, from an aesthetic detriment to a form of public art, from vandalism to a community-building act.
Russell earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and has since become a professional artist and arts instructor. It was the film “Style Wars” (directed by Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant in 1983) that introduced Russell to graffiti art and hip-hop culture. From that moment on, he devoted himself to creating graffiti art.
Throughout his decades-long career, he has been interested in spatial equity—the way public space is distributed and restricted. His passion for creative leadership inspired him to create SPRAYFiNGER while he was a Bush Foundation Fellow in 2012–14.
In the days following the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, artist Peyton Scott Russell painted a portrait of Floyd based on a selfie by Floyd. Russell—himself a Black man who had grown up near the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in South Minneapolis, where Floyd was murdered—was in a unique position to create the memorial. The 12-foot-square likeness of Floyd spraypainted in black and white became an international symbol throughout the Black Lives Matter protests that took place around the world in the summer of 2020.
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Now, Russel is a part of the central Kentucky community as Josephine Sculpture Park’s 2025 Artist-in-Residence. His appearance at 21c Museum Hotel with help broaden the perspective of graffiti as a teachable art. He will present a 30-minute artist talk followed by a question-and-answer session. The event is free and open to the public. RSVP on Eventbrite.
Artist Talk: Peyton Scott Russell
Thursday, July 10
6:30 p.m.
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This article appears in Jul 4-31, 2025.