Muralist RISK transforms old Sudbury hospital into a work of art

It's official: according to organizers with the recent Up Here urban music and art festival, Sudbury is now home to Canada's largest mural.

The annual festival celebrates music and art. Each year, murals are painted throughout the city.

Los Angeles-based graffiti artist RISK spent 13 days painting the old general hospital on Paris Street. Check out the transformation of the building by moving the slide on the photo above.

Festival co-founder Christian Pelletier says the final project is 74,000 square feet. He says a mural in Thompson, Manitoba previously held the title with a 20,000 square foot mural of a wolf.

"Since then, we've heard that KWEST, who was actually our guest mural curator this year, had just finished a mural in Smiths Falls that was about 30,000 square feet before coming to Sudbury to help shatter his own record," he said.

The bright mural in Sudbury was supposed to be larger. However, due to a series of thefts and difficult terrain to navigate, only three of the four walls are painted.

"The intention of this project was to cover as much wall as possible on that hospital to make it a little surreal, a little wonderful," he said.

"When you turn that corner now, all you see is colour. It's quite impressive."