DENVER — There's no shortage of artwork in RiNo, and artist Kyle Holbrook wanted to add his political poster work to the collection.
Holbrook said he knows how popular the arts district is and how many people visit, shop and live in the area. When he came up with the idea for his latest art series, he knew he wanted to take it to RiNo.
"There's a lot of murals or street art," Holbrook said. "There's graffiti. There's every type of art form, and doing these political poster type caricatures, I think is more fitting for the street art area."
Holbrook said his intent is to empower people to cast their votes in the upcoming election, but also, to maintain peace.
"It's about uniting Americans," he said. "I mean, no matter who wins the election they remind people to stay nonviolent."
He said he's been concerned with online rumblings of potential violence after the 2024 election.
Holbrook said he was inspired by a recent trip to Paris and wanted to channel some of the art style into his series. He said each drawing takes just a few minutes, but the planning process of what he's going to draw and where he's going to put them up takes weeks of research.
"Many of them have a peace symbol with some Denver and Colorado imagery, you know, the mountains in the background," Holbrook said. "One has Jokić saying to vote. So it's really all to remind people the importance of voting and that it's an important part of being American, but also to do it peacefully. So, they all have a peace symbol."
Holbrook is planning to take the series across the county, putting focus on swing states that may be important to either presidential candidate's win in November. He said his traveling is funded by grants from the Moving the Lives of Kids (MLK) Community Mural Project. He said the project brings art, education and kids together. Through the project, he's been able to do murals in 49 states and 43 countries.
When he isn't making political posters, he said his art can center on other social issues like gun violence or autism awareness.
"It's all about using art as a tool," he said.
Holbrook said he's keeping the next cities in his series a secret. He hopes that when they pop up, they'll surprise people and make more of an impact.
"MLK Mural Project was really looking for the high visibility of our work," Holbrook said. "To have them placed in strategic ways where there are a lot of people."
He said he'll continue to put the posters up until Election Day.
"Hopefully, people laugh a little bit, but then also we're reminded of the seriousness of the upcoming election," Holbrook said. "No matter who wins, we're still Americans. We need to stay united and do it nonviolently."