A SAMPLE OF KYLE HOLBROOK’S WORK. THIS IS A MURAL HE PAINTED IN WILKINSBURG. | PHOTO COURTESY OF KYLE HOLBROOK

Kyle Holbrook, a muralist from Wilkinsburg who has painted murals around the world, is set to paint four murals in Paris during the 2024 Summer Olympics, July 26-Aug. 11. The locations, as well as collaborating artists, will be revealed when the murals are painted, he says. 

These murals will feature his signature universal symbol of peace, he says, showing a hand holding up a peace sign with its fingers. 

KYLE HOLBROOK’S SIGNATURE UNIVERSAL SYMBOL OF PEACE. | PHOTO BY RICHARD COOK

Holbrook believes in the power of art to share his message. 

“[I want to] bring more attention to the issue and the need for peace and humanity…” he says. “What a more important time to send the message as a human that we need to think about peace and humanity.”

Related: Here Are the Pittsburgh Athletes Going to the Paris Olympics

His message of peace comes from the lasting issue of gun violence in America. Holbrook himself, as well as close friends, have been victims of gun violence. He hopes to spread his message of peace with these murals. 

He also wants to connect his message of peace to the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Gaza conflict. 

“I think doing this, these murals for the Olympics, is the pinnacle of my career,” Holbrook says.

KYLE HOLBROOK | PHOTO COURTESY OF KYLE HOLBROOK

Holbrook plans to paint these murals in high-traffic areas that many tourists will visit because of its proximity to art done by famous artists such as Banksy, Activator, a French street artist and JR, a French photography muralist. 

The Olympics are expected to draw 300,000 spectators from around the world. He plans to print the words on the murals in English and French so that the message is universally understood. The murals will also include Chinese, Hebrew, Arabic and Russian symbols.

To make this project successful, Holbrook received $150,000 from the Louis Wolfson Foundation and the Miami-based Pinnacle Housing Group to get needed supplies and to work out logistics with the property owners of the four buildings. 

In the last 24 years, Holbrook says he has painted more than 400 murals in the Pittsburgh area and 150 in Miami, where he resides part of the time. He also says he has painted murals in 43 countries. 

He also founded Moving Lives of Kids, known as the MLK Mural Project, a public arts organization that empowers youth through art and education by equipping them with the skills to produce public art. It involves a group mural project and community work each summer.

Murals he has painted in the Pittsburgh area include August Wilson in the Hill District, the Veterans Mural on the South Side as well as the large image of Roberto Clemente on the side of the Clemente Museum in Lawrenceville. He has also painted a mural in Monroeville Mall, which includes many Pittsburgh icons like Mac Miller and Franco Harris on the 20th anniversary of the Monroeville Mall Mural in 2023.