MINOT, N.D. (AP) — High atop a massive grain elevator in the middle of Minot, North Dakota, artist Guido van Helten swipes a concrete wall with a brush that looks more appropriate for painting a fence than creating a monumental mural.

Back and forth van Helten brushes, focused on his work and not bothered by the sheer enormity of his task as he stands in a boom lift, 75 feet (23 meters) off the ground, and focused on a few square feet of a structure that stretches over most of a city block.

“When you use these old structures to kinda share stories and use them as a vehicle to carry an image of identity, it becomes part of the landscape,” he said. “I’ve found that people have really adopted them and become really super proud of them.”

The work on the former Union Silos is van Helten’s l

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