Slow Down Art In Progress

WILKES-BARRE — Driving past Wet Paint Printing + Design, at 152 Horton St., one is bound to notice the building.

Painted black and covered in art, owner Stephen Taren hopes the site impacts the community.

“I celebrate art. I want to share something with the neighborhood — this neighborhood needs life and color,” Taren said. “The pleasure I get from this building is the art that I can share, and I don’t really care how much it costs.”

All of the art on the Wet Paint building is either vinyl work by Taren or painted by local artist Leigh Pawling, and each piece holds meaning, they said.

The building’s newest mural, titled “Art in Progress” and painted by Pawling, is meant to celebrate pop art, youth and love.

Taren said that he unknowingly named the project several years ago during another project with Pawling — he had given her signs that say “Slow down! Art in Progress.”

“I had completely forgotten about those signs. Then she pulled them out and I realized that I named (the mural) a few years ago. The universe is on our side.”

The mural pays homage to artists such as Keith Herring, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Banksy and others, while also showing the messier side of art as it is in progress — a scaffolding and a bucket of paint, usually removed from the premises after the completion of a mural, are proudly featured as part of the work. The artist, albeit a ghostly interpretation of her, also has a place in the large painting, which Taren reported was 40 feet by 14 feet.