Unlike framed paintings, murals face sun, rain, pollution, and temperature shifts every day. Over time, these forces weaken the paint surface.
Most murals that appear faded are not lost. The pigment is still there.
We stabilize and protect the existing paint — without repainting or changing the original work.
Anemos was founded by a working public muralist who spent over a decade studying murals in the wild — not just creating them. Watching surfaces lose density. Color flatten. Contrast disappear. Not abruptly, but predictably. Instead of accepting it as inevitable, he started asking whether it had to happen that way.
That question led to years of testing across substrates, climates, and conditions — from Florida Keys humidity to Arizona desert heat to northern winters. The methodology that emerged is the foundation of every Anemos engagement.
In 2024, a 50'×12' mural sculpture he created entered the City of Dallas Permanent Public Art Collection — accepted into a program requiring a projected lifespan of 20 years or more. The system applied to that work is the same system we bring to every collection.
"Murals weren't failing. They were simply unmanaged over time."
Cities commission murals. Artists paint them. The work goes up, celebrated and photographed, and then the system stops. No maintenance protocol, no inspection schedule, no one whose job it is to notice when the paint surface begins to give. By the time a mural looks faded, most people assume it's gone. It usually isn't. But without a path forward, cities repaint — and the original work is lost.
The gap isn't in the murals.
It's in what was never built around them.
In 2017, a South Florida municipality commissioned a large-scale mural by a world-class artist — a six-figure investment in a work meant to last. Six years later, environmental damage had set in. The city reached out to the artist, who quoted a six-figure repair. Cost-prohibitive, they painted it over instead.
A six-figure commission. A six-figure repair quote. Gone.
Stewardship costs the price of upkeep — not a new commission. The work stays. The community keeps what it invested in, and what it loves.
Every mural follows one of two trajectories. The difference isn't the mural — it's whether anyone steps in. The earlier a collection is assessed, the more options are available.
Every mural eventually needs attention — the only variable is when. An uncoated mural typically shows fading within a few years. A coated mural holds longer. A treated mural enters a managed stewardship cycle. The work stays. The clock keeps resetting.
Works from the portfolio of Jhonattan Arango / Art of Anón — founder, Anemos Art Preservation
Paint is pigment held in a binder. When the binder fails, the color appears to fade — but the pigment is almost always still there. Understanding that changes everything about what's possible. Our approach is built on that knowledge, developed over a decade in the field.
See Our Approach →Municipalities, mural festivals, universities, corporate campuses, developers, and nonprofits — any organization that has commissioned public art and wants it to last.
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Mural festivals concentrate investment, energy, and community pride into a short window. That window is also the ideal moment to protect what was just created. We come in immediately after completion — when the paint is fresh and the opportunity is greatest.
Prior-year murals can be assessed and treated in the same visit. Festivals that work with us don't just create a collection — they steward one.
If you have murals worth protecting, this is where it starts. We'll talk through your collection and figure out together what makes sense.
Assessment fees are credited in full if a treatment program proceeds. We work with clients nationally and respond within two business days.
Thank you — we'll be in touch within two business days.
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