MIDDLETOWN – While driving along Route 9 in Middletown you’ll notice some new faces.
It’s the work of Patrick Ganino, a Middletown native and mural artist, who is currently painting the largest mural of his career.
Metro Movies 12 on Main Street hired him to transform the back of their theater. It’s a 3,000-square-foot space that faces the highway.
“When I saw where it was and the amount of traffic that passed it, as an artist that's a dream. That's an open canvas, so I went for it,” said Ganino.
He added, “The owners really wanted to give something back to the town of Middletown.”
Ganino came up with the concept and got it approved by the town over the past five months. He started painting last week.
He chose to feature nine local faces, which happen to be his friends and family.
“I’m a very social individual,” said Ganino. “There's nothing better than walking in a room and someone smiles at you. You naturally smile back. So to me from the highway, there's nothing better than seeing faces looking at you smiling, eating popcorn, drinking soda. It's hard to ignore something like that especially if it's 3 stories tall.”
His goal is to complete the mural by August 31. Learn more and watch his progress here.
