Anti-Smoking mural by multiple artists

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An anti–smoking mural in McKees Rocks that didn’t get blocked from view. (See the information on this mural.) Tobacco Free Allegheny County funds a program called Music and Art as Prevention (MAP) that attempts to use the arts to reach out to kids and prevent them from starting to smoke. This mural reinforces the message and was designed by those kids.

TribLIVE did an article about the mural and it’s author Genea Webb quotes lead artist Kyle Holbrook as saying: As an artist I want to make a difference through art. I wanted to show that if you stay smoke–free, you’ll be able to achieve your hopes and your dreams.

Controversial Anti-Smoking mural by multiple artists

About Pgh Murals
Spreadsheet of Pittsburgh Public Art and blog archives
Map of Pittsburgh Public Art

While this mural may technically still be there, we’re calling it a ghost mural because it’s been all but invisible since it was completed. What started out as an anti–smoking mural with the local community’s support ended up as a huge bone of contention with the business next door. The funeral home located next to the mural decided they didn't like it before it was even finished and they erected a wall and shrub screen to effectively block the mural from sight. You can read about it in this article by Brentin Mock, and in a Post Gazette article by Dan Gigler here.

We’d also like to direct you to this follow up Post Gazette article where you can see a photo of what the mural looked like before it was blocked from view.

One other piece of information that might be relevant: On the surface, the big complaint here seemed to be the bright orange color. You may have wondered why so much orange? The artist overseeing this project (Kyle Holbrook) had said in the past that he likes to use orange because red is too angry and yellow is too uncommitted. To him orange is a non-controversial color and you see it in all of his murals in the background design and swirls that he uses. His generous use of it here is not out of character.