Public Art – Page 3 – longlistshort

Pennsylvania Art Shows- “King Saladeen: Create Your Gold” at Philadelphia International Airport

Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Installation Art, Painting / Painters, Pennsylvania Art Shows, Philadelphia, Public Art

Feb 182026

King Saladeen created these murals for the Philadelphia International Airport’s Exhibitions Program.

From Art at PHL about this exhibition–

Philadelphia artist King Saladeen has created his largest painting installation to date currently on view at Philadelphia International Airport. Saladeen’s art is motivational and energetic. His paintings are filled with vibrant colors, shapes, patterns, markings, and text, along with representational imagery that includes his trademark JP the Money Bear and Philadelphia’s skyline. The work represents his passion to inspire as he says, “Dream Big, Love What You Do!” A message evident in this epic four-part painting.

Saladeen created this artwork partially in his studio as four paintings scaled to the proportions of the four gallery walls. The original paintings were scanned, printed on vinyl, and adhered on site. Over two nights, Saladeen painted atop the vinyl to complete his vision. It was an amazing performance to watch as he intuitively added more colors, shapes, and details until it was deemed complete.

Pennsylvania Art Shows- “It’s A Wrap 2” at Philadelphia International Airport

Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Fiber Arts, Illustration, Installation Art, Mixed Media, Pennsylvania Art Shows, Philadelphia, Public Art, Sculptors / Sculpture

Feb 132026

Currently on view at Philadelphia International Airport, It’s A Wrap 2, brightens a section of the airport with art work and installations by several local artists.

Included in this post are works by Nicole Nicolich (pictured above), Tim Eads of Tuft the World, Olivia Chiaravalli, and on the ceiling tiles- work by Miriam Singer and Eurhi Jones.

From the airport about the exhibition–

This exhibition features work by Philadelphia area artists who were invited to create unique architectural interventions within the Airport terminal. Using yarn, fabric, felt, found objects, tape, paint, wheat paste, and wood, the artists applied their work to the ceiling tiles, columns, rockers, walls, walkway, and windows. They have visually transformed this location into an immersive and experiential art-filled passageway.

The artists responded to the existing architectural elements to create an unexpected visual experience and an engaging space for people to pass through. It is a form of urban interventionism where art activates the built environment with the intention to see a public space in a new and creative way.

Work by Tim Eads of Tuft the World

Olivia Chiaravalli, “Brick by Brick”

Miriam Singer, “Dreamliner”

Eurhi Jones, “Tinicum”

Pennsylvania Art Shows- “Jawn 8” at Philadelphia International Airport

Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Painting / Painters, Pennsylvania Art Shows, Philadelphia, Public Art

Feb 132026

Anuj Chandra Shrestha, “Sumud”

If you have a layover or arrive early to Philadelphia International Airport, make sure to take some time to check out some of the art on display. Works like the murals in this post, are part of the airport’s Exhibitions Program.

About Art at PHL:

The Airport’s Exhibitions Program is a nationally-recognized, award-winning visual arts initiative.

In 1998, Philadelphia International Airport established an Exhibitions Program – a visual arts initiative to humanize the Airport environment, provide visibility for Philadelphia’s unique cultural life, and to enrich the experience of the traveling public.

The Exhibitions Program is responsible for organizing and presenting rotating exhibitions that are located throughout the Airport. The exhibits change throughout the year to provide a variety of educational and cultural programs. This forum for presenting visual arts attests to the Airport’s commitment to supporting arts and culture.

The Exhibitions Program provides millions of visitors from around the world access to a wide variety of art forms by artists and arts institutions from the Philadelphia area.

The artists in this post- Anuj Chandra Shrestha, Lale Westvind, Steve Teare, Olivia Fredricks, and Amze Emmons are all part of the exhibition, Jawn 8. Jawn, a slang term local to Philadelphia, is defined as- “a placeholder word that may refer to a thing, place, person, or event, substituting for a specific word/name”. For even more on the word jawn, check out this article on Atlas Obscura.

Lale Westvind, “They Grew The Garden”

Steve Teare, “The Art Museum Games”

Olivia Fredricks, “The City is Our Playground”

Amze Emmons, “Philly Birdsong Onomatopoeia”

Pennsylvania Public Art- Roxy Paine in Philadelphia

Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Installation Art, Pennsylvania Art Shows, Philadelphia, Public Art, Sculptors / Sculpture

Feb 052026

Symbiosis (2011) by artist Roxy Paine has been on display in Iroquois Park on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia since June 2014.

About this work from the Association for Public Art (aPA), which organized the installation and acquisition-

Hand-fabricated from thousands of pieces of stainless steel pipe, plate, and rods, Symbiosis suggests both ecological and anatomical branching systems.

Rising 34 feet high, the more than 3.5 ton sculpture was created from standard industrial piping that was welded, formed, and polished in the artist’s studio to create two shimmering, interrelated organic forms that both buttress and weigh on one another, referencing the darker aspects of nature and the fierceness of its laws. Symbiosis represents the collision of two dendroids that result in stasis, a questionable relationship that teeters between support and detriment.

Roxy Paine’s work consistently blurs the lines between the natural and artificial. He is known for work that explores the collision of industry and nature, and his series of stainless steel “Dendroid” sculptures are exemplary manifestations of this practice. The “Dendroids,” a term combining “dendron” (Greek for “tree”) and -oid (a suffix meaning “form”), are monumental structures that convey a fusion of industrial and organic forms. They evoke arboreal structures, vascular systems, synaptic networks, and industrial pipelines, interpreting the natural world through a man-made lens. The structures represent search, growth, and the branching of systems that suggest dormant energy and potential, a theme Paine has explored in his work for the last 15 years.

Nearby you can also find Mark di Suvero‘s painted steel sculpture Iroquois (seen in the second image posted).

Films to Watch- “Secret Mall Apartment”

Architecture, Art, Artists, Conceptual Art, Films, Installation Art, Public Art, Sculptors / Sculpture, Video and Film

Jan 312026

Secret Mall Apartment Trailer

The story in the 2024 documentary Secret Mall Apartment, feels relatively straightforward at first. In 2003, a group of eight artists built an apartment in a small, unused space in the Providence Place shopping mall in Providence, Rhode Island. They continued to use it until they were discovered a few years later. But the film takes you on a journey beyond the creation of the apartment. It’s also about gentrification, urban development, and artist housing; mall culture and consumerism; the artists’ work outside the apartment; and, by the end, even the question of what makes something art.

Artist Michael Townsend was no stranger to art installations. He had previously created one inside a drainage tunnel, allowing only a select few with keys to see it. When local artist venue and living space Fort Thunder was torn down, the idea of living in the nearby new mall began. He remembered noticing an odd extra space while the mall was still being constructed. After searching and finding it with his then-wife Adriana Valdez Young, friends and fellow artists Colin Bliss, Andrew Oesch, Greta Scheing, James Mercer, Emily Ustach, and Jay Zehngebot joined them to build the apartment. Luckily for viewers, the process was also documented with a Pentax Optio (even if the footage is low-res). Furniture was added, along with a video game system, and eventually a wall.

While their new home provided a break from the outside world, it also became a place for the artists to plan their tape-art installations. These included a five-year portrait series in NYC for 9/11; a mural on the site of the Oklahoma City bombing; and creating work with kids on the walls of Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Rhode Island. Townsend continues to make tape-art projects today.

The documentary is fun to watch and at times, even inspirational. It’s currently available to watch on Netflix and other online platforms.

Ohio Murals- Jake Kelly in Cleveland

Art, Artists, Books, Cleveland, Drawing, Ohio Street Art, Painting / Painters, Public Art, Street Art, Writers

Dec 122025

Cleveland artist Jake Kelly‘s 2010 mural was inspired by the artwork and concepts of ArtsCollinwood‘s portfolio project students. Along with his numerous murals band posters, and fliers, he has also made several comics detailing darker moments from Cleveland’s history.

He also created the fictional series, The Lake Erie Monster, with fellow artist John G. A few issues are currently available online for free.

More about the series from their website-

The flagship story is an “adaptation” of a fake movie that J. Kelly developed for a series of Ten Imaginary Movie Posters. Set in the 1970s, we follow a cast of eclectic characters as they have to navigate the choppy waters stirred up by a Monster born out of the pollution from a city gone to seed. Along with the main title, each issue will feature at least one short back up story.

The Aither‘s 2023 interview with Kelly is also worth a read for more information on the artist.

Throwback- NYC Public Art- Alex Da Corte for the High Line

Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Installation Art, Mixed Media, New York Art Shows, Public Art, Sculptors / Sculpture

Dec 112025

Alex Da Corte‘s Soft Power was on view from the High Line until June of last year.

His latest exhibition, Parade, is currently on view at Matthew Marks in NYC, on view until 12/20/25. The Pink Panther appears in this show as well- Da Corte depicts himself as the character painting the gallery pink.

From the High Line website about the billboard-

Known for his immersive installations, sculptures, and films, Alex Da Corte’s work explores themes of identity, consumerism, and taste, challenging societal norms and reimagining the familiar in unexpected ways. The artist draws from myriad sources, including popular and consumer culture, art history, classical literature, and modern design, seamlessly weaving together disparate elements into cohesive narratives. His adept use of vibrant color and surreal imagery lends a dreamlike quality to his work that captivates viewers and blurs the lines between fantasy and reality.

Da Corte presents a new artwork for the High Line’s 18th Street Billboard, inspired by the Pink Panther, a Friz Freleng creation designed for the animated opening sequence of a 1963 Hollywood comedy that came to embody the film and has evolved, through 60 years of spin-offs and reinventions, into cultural ubiquity. Pink’s durability across many generations has allowed it to sell countless products, from fiberglass insulation foam to artificial sweetener, yet the creature’s essence remains out of reach. With neither master nor peer—and seemingly eternally unbound by the rules of others—Pink represents a certain queer freedom. Da Corte revives Pink as an icon of resistance, supine but poised, wielding a sign of universal protest, brandishing a clear pink purpose. “There is a difference between falling down and laying down,” Da Corte explains. “I call that soft power.” This billboard is an advertisement for the value of such power.

NYC Public Art- Sasha Gordon for the High Line

Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, New York Art Shows, Painting / Painters, Public Art

Dec 112025

Sasha Gordon‘s two billboards- My Love of Upholstery (2024) and Untitled (2024), are currently on view from the High Line in NYC.

From the High Line website about the work-

Sasha Gordon creates surreal paintings and drawings that explore themes of sexuality, gender, race, and the body. Often depicting herself as subject, Gordon is keenly attuned to art historical themes of portraiture and self-portraiture, and of the politics of representation. She approaches these categories with inventiveness and humor, using the uncanny to communicate very real concerns around self-image and identity.

For the High Line – Moynihan Connector Billboard, Gordon presents two works, My Love of Upholstery (2024) and Untitled (2024). Both hail from the artist’s most recent body of work, in which she examines challenging taboos and standards of representation. Her images present a wide range of emotional states, frequently considered through the lens of her identity as a queer Asian American woman. Through endless avatars, she portrays the othering of unconventional human bodies and her own experiences of alienation. Towering over 30th Street and Dyer Avenue, the artist’s fluctuating visage appears at massive scale, marked by a distinct unnaturalness—in My Love of Upholstery, where she depicts herself with a Pinocchio-like wood-grain body, and in Untitled, in which her face and pupils are marked with five-pointed stars. These visions are simultaneously anxious and intimate, teetering somewhere between tender fantasy and nightmare. Her avatars, looming large within their frames, offer both artist and audience an outlet for exploring contradictory emotions and complex personal experiences.

Flashback- Los Angeles Art Shows- Vhils at Over the Influence

Architecture, Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, California Art Shows, Conceptual Art, Egypt, Germany, Los Angeles Art Shows, Mixed Media, Munich, Painting / Painters, Public Art, Sculptors / Sculpture

Dec 052025

In addition to his numerous street art pieces, Alexandre Farto, aka Vhils, has shown his unique creations in various galleries around the world. The works above are from his 2018 exhibition Annihilation at Over the Influence gallery’s temporary location in Los Angeles.

From the gallery about the show-

Presenting a reflection on the current model of globalized development and the forces shaping and affecting local identities around the world today, Annihilation emphasizes the global impact of Los Angeles culture and the subsequent breakdown of unique global identities across continents. For his first solo exhibition in the United States since 2011, Vhils has taken the opportunity to set up a dialogue between the United States, Europe, and China to address the growing struggle for hegemonic supremacy between global powers and the ensuing social and economic impact on the world at large. Annihilation shares the stories of the citizens who breathe vitality into densely populated urban epicenters. Based on a variety of source material, from advertisements collected in cities worldwide to salvaged wooden doors, the new patchwork-like series intentionally dilutes the readability of each individual portrayed, a reflection on how identity is both formed and affected by the city’s visual discourse. This intentional juxtaposition of contrasts mirrors the interplay between elements from various cultures which we observe at work today in large urban contexts.

Vhils-Strata, which presents a selection of his work from the past twenty years, is currently on view at the Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art (MUCA) in Munich, Germany until 3/1/26.

He also recently created the site-specific installation, Doors of Cairo, located near the Pyramids in Giza in Egypt. It is part of Forever is Now 05 and is on view until 12/7/25.