ARTIST BIO
Malcolm Byers is an American muralist whose large-scale, research driven public artworks fuse realistic portraiture with place based history. Known for transforming stories into monumental visual narratives, he brings a documentarian’s rigor and a portrait artist’s sensitivity to walls across the United States. His work is rooted in the Texas Panhandle, where he was raised on a ranch near Bushland and developed a lasting connection to the land, its people, and the heritage of small town life.
Born in Amarillo and raised on the Frying Pan Ranch, Byers is the youngest of six children. His parents, both chefs who first met in San Francisco, later reunited in Amarillo, where his mother opened a restaurant in the late 1980s. Byers lost his mother at age seven and his father at twenty three, losses that shaped his understanding of family legacy and deepened his appreciation for community, memory, and storytelling. These themes quietly anchor his murals, which often honor local figures, shared histories, and the continuity between past and present.
Art threaded through Byers’ family long before he picked up a pencil. His mother created art, his paternal grandfather illustrated throughout his life, and a great great aunt was a trained oil painter who studied under noted artists in Lowell, Massachusetts. Byers began drawing seriously at thirteen, inspired by an older brother’s portrait work. After honing his skills for several years, he discovered large scale spray paint muralists online and taught himself to translate his skills from canvas to wall, painting murals consistently since 2016.
Preparation is the hallmark of Byers’ practice. Each mural begins with extensive historical research, sourced reference images, sketching, and digital compositing to build an original design before paint ever touches the wall. As he describes it, he is “usually using a combination of a lot of history research and sourced images, sketching, and compositing images on Photoshop… so this is an original design by me.” Painting in public is part of the rhythm of his work; he welcomes the presence of onlookers, often wearing headphones to stay focused, and notes that small town communities “are very kind and always take good care of me while I work.”
Byers graduated from Bushland High School in 2014, attended Amarillo College, and later transferred to the University of North Texas before leaving to pursue painting full time. He began with permission based walls, gradually building a client base through visibility, word of mouth, and a growing portfolio. Primarily a spray paint muralist, he also works with latex paint for signage and prefers airbrush for indoor projects. After several years back in Amarillo, he relocated to Oklahoma City in January 2025, continuing to travel widely for commissions.
Through his projects, Byers has become known for pairing technical precision with a deep respect for local narrative. His murals elevate community history into public space, inviting viewers to see familiar stories with renewed clarity. From the Panhandle to Oklahoma City and across the country, he continues to build a body of work that preserves local memory at a monumental scale.
