DOYLESTOWN, PA — This weekend, the streets of Doylestown will fill with artists and art lovers for the 35th annual Doylestown Arts Festival, featuring more than 160 independent artists, live music, demonstrations and activities throughout downtown.
Just off the festival streets, another new piece of art has taken its place on State Street.
Inside The Still on State, Bucks County artist Kenny Restrepo has transformed a decades-old photograph into a large-scale mural that connects Doylestown's present with a nearly forgotten piece of its past.
Samantha and Todd McCarty, owners of the Doylestown Inn and The Still on State, wanted the history of the building to remain part of its future. They commissioned Restrepo to recreate a photograph believed to date from the late 1940s or early 1950s showing a bartender working behind the Inn's former Jug in the Wall bar.
Today, the bartender once again looks out over the room. Directly beneath the mural sits the original Jug in the Wall bar, preserved and returned to service by the McCartys.
There's just one thing missing: the bartender's name.
The bartender has never been identified, and the hope is that someone in the community may recognize him — or have an old photograph, family memory, or story that could finally put a name to the face.
And then there's the artist behind the wall.
From Brooklyn to Bucks County
Restrepo's work can be found just a few miles away in New Hope, where he owns "Art of War Tattoo," his private studio specializing in photorealism — tattooing that recreates the detail, depth, and lifelike quality of a photograph on skin.
For more than a decade, he and his wife, Valerie Restrepo, owned and operated Leathernecks Tattoo, a custom tattoo studio and art gallery in Brooklyn, before relocating to Bucks County.
But tattooing is only one part of his artistic life.
A United States Marine veteran and former New York City police officer, Restrepo works across multiple mediums, including tattooing, painting, murals and highly detailed costume design and fabrication.
In 2018, his artwork and costumes were featured in "Origins," an exhibition at Staten Island's Garibaldi-Meucci Museum, exploring the childhood artistic influences that helped shape his work.
His ability to create elaborate costumes also led to another important outlet for his art.
Kenny Restrepo at work in his private studio, Art of War Tattoo, in New Hope, where the U.S. Marine veteran specializes in highly detailed photorealism.
An example of Kenny Restrepo's photorealism work, featuring a highly detailed military scene rendered in black and gray.
Anyone Can Be Someone's Hero
"Humble Heroes of FDNY" is a nonprofit created by members of the FDNY and their families that brings volunteers dressed as beloved superheroes to children facing illness, grief and other difficult circumstances.
Shortly after the organization was founded, Restrepo became involved, offering his time and artistic talents to its mission. He became Humble Heroes' costume creator, designing and fabricating cinema-quality costumes that transform volunteers into the characters children recognize. He later served as vice president.
And he doesn't only create the costumes. He wears them.
After relocating to Bucks County, Restrepo helped bring the Humble Heroes mission to Pennsylvania, participating in visits to children's hospitals, special-needs schools, and other facilities throughout the region.
The organization's mantra is simple: "Anyone can be someone's hero."
Humble Heroes bring a little superhero magic to St. Luke's Hospital in Allentown, visiting children and families with a mission to lift spirits and bring smiles when they're needed most.
Doylestown Celebrates Art, Past and Present
The timing of the mural is fitting as Doylestown prepares for one of its biggest celebrations of creativity.
Founded in 1991, the Doylestown Arts Festival was created to showcase artists and strengthen the borough's arts and cultural community. This year's 35th anniversary festival takes place Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is free to attend.
The mural's arrival adds another layer to Doylestown's celebration of creativity, connecting the borough's rich history with the artists shaping its community today.
Sometimes art hangs in a gallery. Sometimes it fills the streets of an arts festival. Sometimes it's worn on the skin. And sometimes it brings a forgotten face from a community's past back to life.
More than seven decades later, Doylestown's mystery bartender is once again behind his bar. Perhaps someone seeing him this weekend will finally know his name.
And despite a résumé that stretches from the Marines and NYPD to Brooklyn, museum walls, children's hospitals and now Bucks County, Restrepo remains remarkably modest about it all.
He'll probably just tell you he's an artist.
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