SPOKANE, Wash. — There are so many beautiful murals all over Spokane.
They typically have a signature somewhere letting people know who painted it, except for one.
You may have seen a mural of horses while driving down North Monroe Street on the side of the record store called 4000 Holes. The brick-and-mortar business is known for what they offer inside, but it's what's on the outside that's catching some attention.
"I'm always looking for a new mural to showcase, I pulled aside and took some time to take a couple and then asked if anyone knew who created this one," said Jessica Fisher with the City of Spokane.
A row of horses tagged on the side of the building was featured on the City of Spokane's social media. They usually credit the artist, but this week they didn't know who it belonged to because they didn't sign their name. KREM tracked down the artist.
"You know, we just wanted to do something different. We heard that maybe Butch Cassidy lived here and we wanted to do something with the old Western style theme," said Kory Copeland.
Copeland is the artist behind the mystery. It turns out he was hired by the property manager almost three years ago to put an end to graffiti in the alley.
"I believe it absolutely does, people don't want to ruin other people's art work and it really has deterred against the graffiti," Copeland explained.
The idea worked. Now, people design the horses rather than tagging the wall.
"People started adding to the artwork instead of putting whatever they wanted to put up on the wall," Copeland added.
Some murals are privately done, while Spokane Arts designs others. Overall, it's made a difference in the amount of graffiti you see around town.
"I know every once in a while Spokane Arts will go in and have to fix some of the murals, but for the most part it's a great way to combat graffiti in our community," Fisher said.
This was Copeland's first project. Now he owns VK Painting, a small business in it's third year.
With all this buzz, he'll consider signing his next one.
"Well, I might have to sign it now!" Copeland said with a laugh.
Graffiti is not condoned by the city. You can report it by calling 311.