Anyone who has driven through Manassas, Reston, or McLean recently has likely noticed some colorful additions to the local landscape: Brick walls and office buildings are being transformed by murals.
Much of it is thanks to Northern Virginia artist Nicholas Zimbro, who sees a canvas where others may see an unremarkable surface.
Zimbro often paints his striking murals directly onto brick — and bricks are in his blood. Born in Washington, DC, he spent his early years in a brick home that was literally built by his great-great grandfather, a Sicilian immigrant and brick mason by trade.
As a boy, Zimbro moved with his family to the Northern Virginia suburbs, where he grew up with the knowledge that both buildings and art — his grandmother was a painter — were part of his story.
A Public Art Education
A studio artist by training, Zimbro attended the renowned Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art in Philadelphia. It was while living in Philadelphia that he was first exposed to murals.
Philadelphia has one of the largest public art collections in the country and is often referred to as the “Mural Capital of the World.” As such, murals were an unavoidable part of Zimbro’s out-of-
classroom education. “Your eyes are just met by murals left and right,” Zimbro says. “It really shaped me when I was in my 20s.”
Yet it wasn’t until the COVID pandemic hit and his studio projects dissipated that Zimbro turned to large-scale public art projects. “I really doubled down, because I said, ‘Well, the world might be ending right now, and I’m just going to go paint these murals no matter what,’” he says.
It wasn’t long before people noticed. Still deep in lockdown days, Capital One commissioned him to paint a mural at its headquarters in McLean. The Capital One project brought him notoriety, and he has now adorned around 40 walls in McLean.
Making His Mark
Zimbro’s other projects include a mural on a wall half a football field in length in Reston Town Center and one on the side of the oldest library in Prince William County.
But it’s his hometown of Manassas that he currently has set in his sights. He’s determined to paint murals throughout the town.
“I just met with the architectural review board, and I said, ‘I want to have more murals in and around your historic overlay district when I die than any other place in the world. Right now, Reston has you beat. But I want it to be right here at my home.’ And I’m in my young 40s, and I’m going to paint until I’m in my 70s. I know I will. So, I was kind of putting everybody on notice that we have a lot more work to do over there together,” Zimbro says.
Although it’s clear that his heart lies in Northern Virginia, Zimbro has painted murals across the country. “I’m not trying to paint a mural in all 50 states before I’m 50. I will. I absolutely will,” he says. “There’s a difference between trying and doing. I’m doing it.”
Impactful Art
The life of a muralist necessitates working outside, in all elements, often dozens of feet off the ground. And for one who paints all over the country, not just in their hometown, it’s inherently a life spent on the road and away from creature comforts.
“As a muralist, you trade out the privacy of a studio for the exposure of the people that are out there,” Zimbro says. “But mural art is the most impactful thing that I can do. And that’s how I gauge what type of projects I want to do. I gauge them by impact. That is my number one value source. ‘How impactful is this piece?’ ‘What can we uplift with this piece?’ ‘What can we do here that will help people?’ Because it’s not just a personal expression. It’s an expression of art for all of us.”
And we can’t wait to see what new art awaits.
Feature image of Spirit by Nicholas Zimbro courtesy Nicholas Zimbro
This story originally ran in our August issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
