Ruben Cabrera, better known by his artist moniker of Rubezilla, has painted murals for almost twenty dispensaries around Colorado. It’s fun, steady work, Cabrera says, and the store walls provide him with large canvases.
When Spark Dispensary decided to upgrade its retail space when it moved next door into 4799 Colorado Boulevard, marketing consultant Robert Folse thought Cabrera was a natural choice to work on the new store. The Denver artist was interested, but thought he saw an opportunity to do more than a mural.
What the two eventually settled on was a playground for Denver’s art space that stretches from the inside of the dispensary to the area around it.
Locally and nationally renowned street artists like Nychos, Chris Haven, Detour, Birdcap, Shane Huss, Casey Kawaguchi, Hiero Veiga and Marissa Napoletano are just some of the people who Cabrera persuaded to paint on Spark’s walls, rooftop and awnings. Cabrera and Folse didn’t stop there, though. They also convinced SMiLE to create animal-focused stencil art and got painted vases for the interior from Joshua Genius, as well as collages from art duo Grantedly Cordial and indoor graphic projections from Actualize Visuals. And, of course, Rubezilla’s work is represented, too.
