Artist turns damaged storefronts into stunning murals in Central West End

By Nathan Vickers

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    ST. LOUIS, Missouri (KMOV) — An eye-catching mural looks over Euclid Ave. at a storefront where a car ran through the front window earlier this month.

The large painted face gazes out over the sidewalk at the nail salon, which has been secured with cardboard for several weeks now.

Tiélere Cheatham, the artist commissioned to do the painting, calls the work “Color Block Beauty.”

“Art engages with people in a way that lets them step out of themselves,” Cheatham said.

Cheatham, who signed the work as “The Rusty Artist,” has worked on five other murals and store window fronts in the Central West End.

Another piece of theirs is down the street at McPherson in a building that burned in the summer of 2022. The building is currently being restored, and Cheatham’s “Snowflake Angel Wings” is painted on one of the panels of plywood outside.

“If you see a boarded-up building, it’s so discouraging,” they said.

People walking down Euclid have noticed the murals. Alannah Buckles said the painting and its place on a plywood storefront seems to tell a story.

“Instead of a piece of wood, there’s something more down here,” Buckles said.

The glass of the storefront will be back in a few weeks. But Cheatham hopes its effect will last.

“To have artwork that you can appreciate and keep looking at each time you pass it, it’s just different,” they said.

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