SHINE Mural Festival 2023- Rhys Meatyard

 Art, Artists, Florida Street Art, Painting / Painters, Public Art, St. Petersburg Street Art, Street Art
Jun 062025
 

Breaking Free by Rhys Meatyard for the 2023 edition of SHINE Mural Festival in St. Pete, Florida.

From the artist about the mural-

For my mural, I wanted to do something hopeful and bright, and the color palette reflects that intent. I took inspiration primarily from classical art and 70s prog rock album covers. I am a big fan of Roger Dean – the artist behind covers for bands such as Yes and Uriah Heep – and borrowed some of his themes for this piece. In the foreground, you see two statues in a colonnade, and as your eye moves across the piece into the mid and background, you become aware that the land and temple are breaking apart, with parts floating off into the sun. The furthest statue has awakened and is stepping off of her base, gazing into the sun. Although the context – the solid ground she has been standing upon is breaking apart – should be frightening, she is looking into the light and moving towards her new existence. This is a metaphor for the process of being reborn in the breaking we all face in our lives, for waking up to the beautiful and terrifying reality of self, and becoming another thing and venturing into the unknown.

Spatially, the piece unfolds for you as you round the corner approaching it. Your first view is of the static statues, and as you come closer, the rays of sunlight draw you in to the rest of the scene. There is not much room to stand back from the piece, so you are forced to confront its magnitude up-close, pulling you into the world in which it exists.

New Jersey Public Art- Wooden Walls and Mike McLaughlin’s “Art Lives Here” in Asbury Park

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Asbury Park, Asbury Park Art Shows, Mixed Media, New Jersey, New Jersey Street Art, Painting / Painters, Photographers / Photography, Public Art, Sculptors / Sculpture, Street Art
May 032025
 

Bradley Hoffer’s works in the foreground, Michael McLoughlin’s photos on the wall behind

Images to the left and right by photographer Mike McLoughlin

Asbury Park in New Jersey is most famous for its music scene, but recently murals and other artworks are adding another reason to visit this seaside town. Many of these pieces would not exist without the hard work of local Jenn Hampton, who started the Wooden Walls Project in 2015. The collaborative arts initiative has worked on numerous projects in the area with local artists and others from farther afield.

One of these projects is New Jersey photographer Mike McLoughlin‘s Art Lives Here- a series of portraits of local arts community members. Each portrait is based on a famous work of art. All of them can be found here.

Below are a few of the murals and works created in collaboration with Wooden Walls. They are located around Asbury Park Boardwalk‘s Historic Steam Plant building and the Carousel Casino Complex. They include works by Porkchop and Bradley Hoffer who currently have a joint exhibition on view at The Art Spot.

Hearts by Amberella, work by Tina Schwarz and mural by Keya Tama

Mural by Keya Tama

Work by ONEQ (@negiyakisoba)

Work by Joe Iurato (left) and Beau Stanton (right)

Ray Geary “St. Shadi and the Madd Doggs” Pigmented resin on board

Work by Pau Quintanajornet (@artofpau)- “Yemaya and her Sea Birds”

Mural is by Porkchop and Bradley Hoffer

Mural by Porkchop of Yemaya

New Jersey Art Show- Ben Hoffer and Porkchop at The Art Spot in Asbury Park

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Asbury Park, Asbury Park Art Shows, Design, Drawing, Installation Art, Mixed Media, New Jersey Street Art, Painting / Painters, Printmaking, Sculptors / Sculpture, Street Art
May 032025
 

Currently at The Art Spot in Asbury Park are the incredible cardboard creations of multi-disciplinary artists Michael La Vallee (aka Porkchop) and Bradley Hoffer for Anti AI: A 2025 Cardboard Odyssey. Along with the exhibitions, the gallery also serves as a studio for La Vallee and a shop selling items by him and others, including a large section of modified clothing items.

Outside of the gallery are two large murals, pictured below. The first is by Porkchop and Hoffer and the second is by artists Joe Iurato and Logan Hicks.

Mural by Porkchop and Bradley Hofffer

Mural by Joe Iurato and Logan Hicks (with Bradley Hoffer section from the previous mural)

This show is on view until May 8th, 2025.

SHINE Mural Festival 2021- Michael Fatutoa

 Art, Artists, Florida Street Art, Painting / Painters, Public Art, St. Petersburg Street Art, Street Art
Mar 072025
 

This mural by Michael Fatutoa was created for the 2021 edition of SHINE Mural Festival in St. Pete, Florida.

From St.Petersburg Arts Alliance about the artist-

Originally from the island of Tutuila in eastern Samoa, Michael Fatutoa was raised in Hawaii and later relocated to Tampa Bay. His work consists of motifs from the ancient Art of the Samoan Tatau (tattooing) and other Polynesian crafts such as carvings and tapestries. Michael shares this integral part of Samoan culture through his full-time work as a tattoo artist at Sacred Tatau in Tampa.

SHINE Mural Festival 2016- Pantónio

 Art, Artists, Florida Street Art, Painting / Painters, Public Art, St. Petersburg Street Art, Street Art
Mar 062025
 

This mural by Portuguese artist António Correia (aka Pantónio) was created for the 2016 edition of SHINE Mural Festival in St. Pete, Florida. The mural wraps around two walls of the Imagine Museum building.

SHINE Mural Festival 2023- The Artist Jones

 Art, Artists, Florida Street Art, History, Painting / Painters, Public Art, St. Petersburg Street Art, Street Art
Feb 262025
 

This mural by Tracey Jones, aka Artist Jones, located on the PSTA ticket office building in St. Pete, was created for the 2023 edition of the SHINE Mural Festival.

The work includes an image of John Donaldson, a former slave from Alabama who became the first black man to settle on the lower Pinellas Peninsula. He purchased a forty acre farm there and was one of a small group of pioneers who, along with his family, created the foundation for the community that would later grow into today’s St. Petersburg.

 

Florida Murals- Zulu Painter in St. Pete

 Art, Artists, Florida Street Art, Painting / Painters, Public Art, St. Petersburg Street Art, Street Art
Feb 072025
 

This mural, Southern Expansion, was created by Zulu Painter and is located in St. Pete, Florida.

Located in the old phone booth on the corner is a plaque that reads-

In the late 1800’s, Black Men were hired to continue the railroad in to the territory that is now known as St. Petersburg, FL. These men settled in this area and were largely responsible for building our city and streets and creating this Gulf Coast community.

This mural honors the history and legacy of the African American people at the foundation of our great city.

You also find Zulu Painter’s work on Instagram.

 

North Carolina Murals- Triangle Park Mural in Asheville

 Art, Artists, Asheville, North Carolina Street Art, Painting / Painters, Public Art, Street Art
Feb 072025
 

The Triangle Park Mural, in downtown Asheville, North Carolina, pays tribute to Asheville’s historic African American business district and the surrounding Valley Street/ East End neighborhoods. Completed in 2013, the project was a collaboration between the Just Folks community club, the Asheville Design Center (ADC), and artist/community-arts organizer Molly Must.

From Molly Must’s website–

Triangle Park is in the heart of “The Block,” an historic area that was the cultural and economic center for all of Western North Carolina’s African-American citizens, from the time of Reconstruction until the years of integration and the East-Riverside Re-Development Project (funded under the federal Urban Renewal program), which severely altered the community’s physical, cultural, and economic topography. Although the community continues to experience displacement and transformation under heavy development, a generation of people who grew up on and around Valley Street (now Charlotte Street) still congregate in Triangle Park, as they have for many years. This dedicated group of community members — who organized under the name Just Folks — has been hosting regular block parties in the park for over a decade. The Triangle Park Mural was born of this vital commitment and a collective desire to mark the changing landscape with celebratory evidence of the area’s profoundly important past.

In an upwelling of community effort and care, nearly 100 volunteers helped paint the Triangle Park Mural between June of 2012 and May of 2013 (many of whom have their own stories about the heyday of the Block). The design is a product of community discussion that was aided by historical archives, interviews, family stories, and donated photographs (including the collection of photographer Andrea Clark). The mural honors both personal stories and memories of several historic institutions of the area, including the Stevens Lee High School, Catholic Hill School, and the Young Men’s Institute (YMI). Artist Molly Must composed the design, with contributions by artists Ernie Mapp, Twila Jefferson, Ian Wilkinson, Harper Leich, and Liana Murray.

 

Ohio Public Art- Axel Void Mural in Akron

 Akron, Art, Artists, Ohio Street Art, Painting / Painters, Public Art, Street Art
Jan 312025
 

This mural in Akron by Axel Void was organized by Curated Storefront and is based on a photograph taken with a ring camera and posted on the Neighbors app.

From Curated Storefront about the work-

This piece is a note on human inter-relational experience. The work presents a highly specific, anonymous interaction between neighbors in the digital realm.

The image is sourced from a post on the Neighbors app, a location based message board designed to connect Ring doorbell cameras into a network of private surveillance, with the intention of “always knowing what is happening in your neighborhood with real time, hyper local safety.”

The posting was created on June 18th, 2022 by an anonymous neighbor 3.4 miles away from the site of the mural. The post is titled: “Unknown visitors, Strange kids at my door 10:30 pm do you recognize them?” The Ring doorbell footage shows a young man at the door for about one minute; the footage is grainy and black and white, he is hard to make out and shuffles from side to side; a friend waits in the background on a bicycle. Twelve commenters on the post argue on whether or not the boy appears suspicious, or if he is merely looking for his lost dog; casing the house or calling for help.

This piece proposes a discussion point on irrational fear, the changing nature of surveillance, and an overarching sense of paranoia in modern society.

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