By Kate Manegold
Artist Hamilton Glass sees Greater Richmond a little differently than most.
A crumbling brick wall is a pristine empty canvas. A hulking cement slab begs to be transformed into a delicate array of lines and color. A long-abandoned parking lot brims with future potential.
He’s leading the charge to bring Greater Richmond’s vibrant arts culture to the forefront in the most visual way possible by illuminating buildings across the city with colossal, thought-provoking murals.
But Glass originally thought his destiny was to design walls, not to decorate them.
Raised in Philadelphia, he left to earn a degree in architecture at Hampton University. He moved back to Richmond with his wife in 2006, to join his mother and begin work at an architectural firm.
Although Glass had always sketched and painted on the side, he never saw it as more than a hobby. “Growing up, art was something I enjoyed but didn’t share that much. A few close friends knew I drew, but they didn’t know what I could do or how much I loved it.”
In 2009, he became a victim of the recession. Not restricted by a 9-to-5 responsibility, self-taught Glass became increasingly immersed in his art, combining his architectural training with graceful freeform drawing to create a recognizable style that is uniquely his own.
“I try to bring my architecture into my work, to bring a lot of geometric shapes and lines into the subject matter of what I’m doing. I’ve always enjoyed sketching more than I have painting, which is why my work looks like a sketch.”
He found his first big break with a local business owner, who commissioned Glass to unleash his imagination on the wall of his store ALB Tech. Glass’ provocative two-story creation rocketed him into the art scene with a bang, drawing accolades and attacks so polarized that he painted over the original mural with a less violent, but more poignant, response.
“It’s art; it’s supposed to make you feel things; it’s supposed to start conversations about the truth. I’ve had people say to me, ‘You’ve inspired me to do more than just words with graffiti.’”
His unwavering commitment to making art that is as beautiful as it is profound has earned him commissions from Greater Richmond businesses, nonprofits, and even large corporations like Altria. In 2012, he was one of three local artists to participate in the nationally heralded RVA Street Art Fest and recently completed a 100-foot, hand-drawn mural at Binford Middle School.
Glass credits his consistent drive to keep creating to his rigid architectural schooling, explaining, “It taught me the skill of doing, making it work, making things happen.”
Yet he also finds constant inspiration in RVA itself—both in its beauty and its challenges.
“I came from a place where you can’t walk down the block without seeing a mural. In Richmond, there’s nothing on the walls—just brick everywhere. There are no stories in the streets.”
Glass is determined to continue making art for the betterment of the city, taking advantage of the intense social and aesthetic impact the immense scale of his work allows. He urges fellow Greater Richmonders to rethink its traditional stance toward graffiti art, and open up their minds—and walls—to let the city’s thriving art culture take center stage.