Graffiti News
Rilie Tané paints a cowboy portrait in downtown Billings
A cowboy portrait by Montana artist Rilie Tané now extends across the west exterior and onto the north wall of a downtown Billings building. According to the Downtown Billings Association, in an item published by the Billings Gazette, the completed mural stands at 2405 First Avenue N., the former Angry Hank’s Microbrewery building. HomeFront owns the property.
The project received a 2026 Big Sky Economic Development Space2Place grant. Its subject, photographic reference and even the hat in the portrait connect the painting to people working or living in Montana. The association describes a finished work without giving an exact completion date.
Robert Majerus is the face in the mural
The portrait depicts Robert Majerus, a stunt double who appeared in the television series Yellowstone and lives in Roundup, Montana, according to the association. Knowing his identity gives visitors a specific person to associate with the cowboy image.
Tané worked from a photograph by Mysti Longway. The association says the artist had kept the photograph on her phone for years while waiting for a suitable project. That history links the new wall painting to an image selected well before this commission.
The hat supplies another local connection. D. James Hats, a custom hat maker based in downtown Billings, made the hat shown in both the photograph and the mural, the association notes. The sitter, photographer and hat maker offer three useful reference points when looking at the portrait. The account does not identify it as a recreation of a particular Yellowstone scene.
A $4,000 grant helped fund a $7,500 project
The Space2Place grant covered $4,000 of the total $7,500 project cost, according to the association. Those figures show a small grant paying for more than half of a completed mural. The account does not identify the sources of the remaining funding or provide an itemized budget.
For Wallscape, the useful lesson lies in that relationship between a defined project and partial funding. A grant can contribute substantially to a building-scale artwork without meeting its entire cost. Here, the reported investment can be tied to a particular artist, address and finished exterior. It is a concrete example of how modest funding supports mural production, rather than a basis for assuming that every Space2Place award follows the same financial arrangement.
HomeFront wanted to renew the aging exterior through a collaboration with a local artist that reflected community character and stories, the association explains. The portrait’s documented local connections help make that intention readable in the finished subject.
The working building shaped the commission
The building is the active shop for the Downtown Billings Business Improvement District (BID) Street Team, according to the association. It previously served as a service station and mechanic’s garage. The mural therefore changes the exterior of a place with an ongoing working use.
Color also connected the commission to its surroundings. In the association’s account, Tané explained that she had freedom to choose her subject, with a request that her colors complement another mural across the alley. Visitors can use that relationship as a way to look beyond the portrait itself and consider the neighboring painted surface.
Tané spent about 50 hours on the piece, the association reports. That is the reported time spent on the artwork; the account does not give a full project timetable. Its extension onto the north wall is another detail to look for when examining how the painting occupies the building.
Tané’s other work connects new murals with rehabilitation
Tané has also rehabilitated several downtown ghost murals, according to the association. The item gives no individual locations or restoration methods for those works. Her record nevertheless places the new portrait alongside work on existing painted surfaces, offering a useful way to consider mural-making and mural care together.
A separate, specifically located work is her large bison mural on the Grand Building at North 27th Street and First Avenue N., where Jake’s Downtown is located. The association identifies that painting as part of her previous work. It gives visitors another documented address for comparing her subjects across downtown buildings.
At 2405 First Avenue N., begin with the west exterior, then look at the continuation onto the north wall, the portrait’s hat and the colors in relation to the mural across the alley. Use the Wallscape map to explore public art more broadly. The Grand Building offers a source-identified comparison; the unnamed ghost murals would require further location information.