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.

Ohio Public Art- Gustavo Prado in Akron

 Akron, Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Mixed Media, Ohio Art Shows, Public Art, Sculptors / Sculpture
Jan 312025
 

Pictured are selections from Gustavo Prado’s Tempo, located in the windows of the University of Akron’s Polsky Building. You can also see the pieces lit up at night which give it a very different look. It is one of several works that are part of Curated Storefront’s ongoing project to transform downtown Akron.

From their website about the work-

Employing sculpture, performance, photography, and video, Gustavo Prado examines shifts in perspective to produce works that investigate different conceptions of reality. He focuses on light, site, and context to create a body of work that dissects the need to constantly negotiate inhabited space as a means of deriving an understanding of personal identity.

Exploring the complexities inherent in the act of gazing, Prado makes inquiries into a series of notions that are both intrinsic and extraneous to the field of art, such as surveillance, appropriation, voyeurism, aggregates, artificial intelligence, narcissism, information overload, and the right to privacy. He uses off-the-shelf materials that he slightly alters, enabling viewers to recognize the source material while understanding potential deviations from the intended use. Through processes of combining seemingly disparate materials and subject matter, Prado tests cultural assumptions of what can or should belong together.

Ohio Public Art- Curated Storefront’s “Outside the Box” in Akron

 Akron, Akron, Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Ohio Art Shows, Ohio Street Art, Painting / Painters, Public Art, Sculptors / Sculpture, Street Art
Jan 312025
 

 

Curated Storefront is an Akron arts organization started in 2016 that is working to turn downtown Akron into an arts destination. Their projects include a collection of public murals and art in store windows. They also offer studio spaces to local artists.

One of their projects, Outside the Box, is a series of up-cycled shipping containers that house pop-up galleries and rotating murals.

Below are more selections from Outside the Box and information on the works from their website.

El Mac, “Stardust”

From the information plaque-

This mural titled Stardust depicts El Mac’s son as a baby looking up towards the sky, which creates imagery that the artist hopes “can be relatable to people and hopefully it suggests youthfulness and new beginnings. I had fun with the rendering , patterns, movement, and shapes. It was challenging for me and I think it’s beautiful, so I hope others do too.”

Palehorse, “Garuda”

About Palehorse’s mural from Curated Storefront–

Painting of the deity Garuda from Hindu mythology. Garuda (King of Birds) symbolizes the harmonious union of earthly strength and celestial freedom. As the divine messenger, he traverses between realms, embodying the bridge between humanity and the sacred. His outstretched wings form a shield of protection, a testament to his role as guardian and defender against adversity. Garuda’s presence inspires us to embrace our inner courage and navigate life’s challenges with unwavering determination. Just as he faces the serpents of life, we too can rise above obstacles, guided by his example. As you gaze upon this mural, may Garuda’s symbolism ignite your spirit, reminding you of your own capacity to soar to new heights, find peace amidst chaos, and stand strong in the face of all trials. Jai Guru! OM Garuda!

With over 20 years of experience as a professional illustrator, the catalogue of work created by Palehorse now serves as a breadcrumb trail, highlighting his intense curiosity and a relentless quest for deeper meaning and self-discovery. Years of seeking and following delightful and mysterious curiosities, eventually led to a devoted spiritual practice, arising from an ever-expanding love for sacred art, mystical scriptures, ancient cultures, plant medicine ceremonies, world mythology and travel.

The artwork of Palehorse aims to become more refined and meaningful as he increasingly becomes more spiritually adventurous through the years. His aesthetic harnesses the ancient power of traditional Thai ornamental design, blended with Indian motifs and symbols derived from the Thangka paintings of Tibetan Buddhism. As a follower of Paramhansa Hogananda, these inspirations are then filtered through the lens of an American yogi/psychonaut/illustrator, who was born in the late 70’s and grew up skateboarding, surfing, getting tattooed and playing guitar in metal bands.

John Comunale “The First Energy Monster”, Recycled tires and golfballs

John Comunale, whose work is pictured above, is an Akron artist with many works located around the city.

Studio Haz – Joshua Hall and Diana Paz- “This and That”

About the Studio Haz mural from Curated Storefront-

This mural is a visual dialog, a conversation between order and fluid organic forms. It is the first collaboration between the two artists.

Diana Paz is a Venezuelan Multidisciplinary artist based in Miami, FL. She has been fully dedicated to her art since 2012, right after graduating from her graphic design studies. Navigating between artistic expressions, she explores materials, shapes, spaces, textures and colors; reinterpreting elements from her native region as well as others taken from her everyday life. The result is a balanced union of elements; coming all-together in the cleanest and simplest way.

Joshua Hall, AKA Baghead, (born January 5, 1988) is a contemporary Latin- American artist from Miami, Florida. His work is derived from 90’s skateboarding, street typography, and early animation. He is known for his wooden sculptures as well as being a muralist. In his practice, Joshua reflects on his suburban adolescents; recounting them in fluid, abstracted and sometimes sculptural forms.

Steiner, “Repetitive Nature”

About Steiner and Repetitive Nature–

The bright and psychedelic colors and mutation of the third eye on the leopards represent human negative effects on nature. However, nature is ferocious (like a leopard) and fights back, reclaiming what is left behind by humans in a cycle that is repetitive. Nature finds a way.

Raised on surf/skate art and comics, and influenced by the likes of Jim Phillips and Todd McFarlane, Steiner began spray painting walls during middle school in the 90s. After traveling abroad and formal art training he returned to his street art and graffiti roots. He has lived and painted in San Francisco and New York, and now resides in Los Angeles. His work is reminiscent of the Toxic Avenger. It shows man’s effect on nature and manipulation of the environment. His work often has mutated beasts with multiple eyes, bright un-earthy colors and smoke ring cloud (pollution) backgrounds … so the 3 eyed Simpsons fish is a good reference to sum it up … an actual issue with a somewhat humorous delivery.

Axel Void (Alejandro Hugo Dorda Mevs), “Untitled”

L.E.O. (Reginald O’Neal), “Dr. John Henry Clarke And the Mundari People”

About L.E.O. (Reginald O’ Neal)–

L.E.O. (Reginald O’Neal), born in 1992 in Miami, Florida, began painting in 2012 and soon met his friend and mentor, Alejandro Dorda, also known as Axel Void, who would teach him classically.

In 2014, L.E.O. took his first trip to Europe to complete murals in Austria, Norway, and Spain, as well as exhibit in a collective show alongside his teacher in Berlin, Germany. In the years since, Reggie has focused on canvas work, residencies, and murals that embody his community surroundings, experiences and beliefs.

Gabriela Ayza Aschmann, “Momentum Absence Act”

From Curated Storefront about the Gabriela Ayza Aschmann’s mural-

It has two faces. What we see and what may be behind. Is it the absence of oneself that creates emotional instability? Sometimes we are in a sea of fire and we have to warp to hold on to ourselves so we can be our own lifesaver. With the vertigo of falling, you create a dance that in the end only you can learn to enjoy. Emily Dickinson wrote, “I was falling and in each crash hit, I ran into a world.”

Born in 1991 Cologne, Germany, Gabriela Ayza Aschmann is a Spanish-German artist currently based in Miami, Florida. She lived and studied in Andalusia, graduated from the University of Fine Arts in Seville, Spain. She continued learning with workshops and follow ups from different artists. In 2020, Gabriela attended her first artist residency with Void_ Projects in Miami, FL. Later, she followed her next artist residency at Gotulist Froyar, Feror Island, Denmark. Her last two shows titled I have an idiot inside me and Mom, let me be an animal for one day opened in Miami, FL where she presented a mixture of her personal collection of paintings.

Her practice represents the search for the poetic. She begins with considering that listening to ourselves and our environment brings us closer to the core of our existence. In her paintings one can find humor, sweetness and hardness at the same time. The artist observes and empathizes how humans are, measurably, beasts and brutes. Bluntly, she questions why humanity hides its beastiality: What is so dangerous about our depths? Her work is focused on oil painting, although in her process we can find poetry, theater, analog photography and other sculptural aspects.

 

Johnny Robles, “Gloria Bow”

About Johnny Robles and the mural from Curated Storefront–

Johnny Robles is a multi-disciplinary artist working at the intersection of art, technology, and nature. Studies in color theory, geometry, and science, combined with his natural and spiritual world interests are central to his work.

The artwork’s title, Gloria Bow, is derived from a glory rainbow, a halo of interlocking colors made up of tiny droplets of water reflecting sunlight scattered back towards the viewer. This phenomenon we see in nature can be experienced from tall buildings, a mountain top, or an airplane. Over the years, the artist’s experiences of observing glories have marveled and served him as reminders that nature seeks each of us. This painting intends to engage passersby in a moment of solitude, clarity, or stillness.

 

NYC Public Art- High Line- Kapwani Kiwanga

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Conceptual Art, Glasswork, New York Art Shows, Public Art, Sculptors / Sculpture
Dec 122024
 

The pictures above are of Kapwani Kiwanga’s sculpture On Growth, commissioned for the High Line in NYC. This sculpture will be on view until February of 2025.

From the High Line about the artist and the work-

Kapwani Kiwanga is a conceptual artist working across film, performance, sculpture, and installation. Through exhaustive research into topics including colonial history, social segregation, and marginalized stories, Kiwanga constructs artworks that tease apart power imbalances and the imperceptible nuances that comprise the aesthetics of power. Often grounding her projects in architecture and horticulture, Kiwanga has created artworks that engage a wide variety of subjects including mono-crop agriculture in Tanzania, the oil and fracking industries, ceremonies related to key moments in African independence, and historical racist lantern laws from New England and New York. In her ongoing work Flowers for Africa, Kiwanga installs fresh arrangements of cut flowers that are replicas of bouquets visible in archival images of the inauguration ceremonies of African countries.

For the High Line, Kiwanga presents On Growth, a sculpture of a fern encased in glass. The multi-faceted case is constructed from dichroic glass, which captures and transforms the light that passes through it, changing tone and color as it’s viewed from different vantage points. The work references Wardian cases, a predecessor of the terrarium, which were used to transport uprooted plants to Europe from overseas, allowing those species to continue to thrive amid London’s polluted air in the late 19th century. These enclosures resembled jewelry cases at the time and, similarly, often protected treasures from distant lands. On Growth draws on the colonial histories of institutional and commercial botanic nurseries that heavily influenced the scientific understanding of plants and horticulture of today.

NYC Public Art- Pamela Rosenkranz- “Old Tree”

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, New York Art Shows, Public Art, Sculptors / Sculpture
Sep 062024
 

Old Tree, the sculpture pictured above, was created by Pamela Rosenkranz for the High Line in NYC.

From the High Line website–

For the third High Line Plinth commission, Rosenkranz presents Old Tree, a bright red-and-pink sculpture that animates myriad historical archetypes wherein the tree of life connects heaven and earth. The tree’s sanguine color resembles the branching systems of human organs, blood vessels, and tissue, inviting viewers to consider the indivisible connection between human and plant life. Old Tree evokes metaphors for the ancient wisdom of human evolution as well as a future in which the synthetic has become nature. On the High Line—a contemporary urban park built on a relic of industry—Old Tree raises questions about what is truly “artificial” or “natural” in our world. Made of man-made materials and standing at a height of 25 feet atop the Plinth, it provides a social space, creating shade while casting an ever-changing, luminous aura amid New York’s changing seasons.

Pamela Rosenkranz creates sculptures, paintings, videos, and installations that reflect on the human need to anthropomorphize our surroundings in order to understand them. In doing so, she investigates the codes through which people give meaning to the natural world. Her projects center synthetic materials created in the image of nature: a swimming pool filled with viscous fluid, collections of mineral water bottles filled with silicone, or a kitchen faucet streaming water colored with E131 “sky blue” synthetic dye. Color is paramount for Rosenkranz, who employs fabricated colors intended to reflect unblemished and idealized nature. She elaborates on the condition of the body as a malleable system. Questioning the worldview that centers human beings, Rosenkranz addresses our relentless attempts to domesticate and tame the other living beings around us, as well as our own bodies.

Flashback- NYC Public Art- Raúl de Nieves on the High Line

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, New York Art Shows, Public Art, Sculptors / Sculpture
Aug 302024
 

Raúl de Nieves created these sculptures for the group exhibition The Musical Brain, located on the High Line in NYC in 2021.

From the High Line’s website about the exhibition-

The Musical Brain is a group exhibition that reflects on the power music has to bring us together. The exhibition is named after a short story by the Argentine contemporary writer César Aira, and explores the ways that artists use music as a tool to inhabit and understand the world. The featured artists approach music through different lenses—historical, political, performative, and playful—to create new installations and soundscapes installed throughout the park.

Traditionally, music is thought of as an art form we construct ourselves. With different organizing rules, instruments, and traditions across cultures, music has underpinned essential collective moments in societies for as long as we know. But music is also the way that we hear the world around us. Often used to described nature (wind whistling through trees), the cosmos (in the Music of the Spheres, or musica universalis), and even the built industrial environment (the rhythmic lull of a train car), music is the order we project onto a cacophonous world. Humans seek order and patterns but also relish chaos and noise; in many ways, music becomes the way that we can experience both at the same time.

The artists in this exhibition listen closely to the sonic world and explore the different temporal, sculptural, social, and historical dimensions of the ways we make music, and the ways we listen. They wonder what stories discarded objects tell when played, what happens when a railway spike becomes a bell, and how the youth of our generation sing out warnings to save our planet. They remind us that music is a powerful tool for communication, especially in times when spoken language fails us. The sonic brings us together to celebrate, protest, mark the passage of time, and simply be together.

And about the artist and this work-

Raúl de Nieves (b. 1983, Morelia, Mexico) makes colorful sculptures and elaborately costumed performances. Having learned to sew and crochet as a child, de Nieves collages found fabrics onto mannequins and coveralls to create fantastical figures that he displays as sculptures and wears in musical performances. De Nieves installs three of these figures sitting on benches on the High Line. The sculptures reference the costumes musicians wear to become their larger-than-life personas and interrupt the crowds with their magical splendor.

Florida Art- Jaume Plensa at Tampa Museum of Art

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Florida Art Shows, Installation Art, Public Art, Sculptors / Sculpture, Tampa
Aug 202024
 

Above is Jaume Plensa’s sculpture Laura with Bun, 2014, on view at Tampa Museum of Art.

From the museum-

At more than 23 feet tall, this artwork expresses both individual and universal traits at great scale, inviting viewers to consider multiple aspects of beauty and human nature. Like all of his large-scale female portrait heads, Laura has her eyes closed, as if looking within. In speaking about these works, Plensa has said, “Look into yourself. My piece is a mirror to reflect your image, so you can think about your own interior—how much beauty we have inside of ourselves.”

California Art- Albert Frey’s “Aluminaire House” at Palm Springs Art Museum

 Architecture, Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, California Art Shows, Palm Springs Art Shows, Public Art
Aug 152024
 

After seeing the Albert Frey exhibition at Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center, you can visit his recently unveiled Aluminaire House near the museum’s main location. It’s incredible at every angle as it reflects its surroundings.

The structure has an interesting history. Before it arrived in Palm Springs, it was rebuilt on architect Wallace Harrison’s property in Huntington, Long Island where it remained from 1931 until 1987. From 1988-2012, it was partially rebuilt on New York Institute of Technology’s Central Islip campus before being dismantled and stored in a trailer.

From the museum-

Designed by Albert Frey, Aluminaire House is one of the first examples of European-style modernist architecture in the United States. Built in 1931 as a full-scale model house for a temporary exhibition, it was intended to be a prototype of mass-produced housing, factory made with modern materials. Composed primarily of aluminum, steel, and glass, it was an experiment in realizing a democratic ideal in architecture of creating affordable, well-designed homes using modern industrial methods and materials. Palm Springs Art Museum acquired the Aluminaire House to add to its rich holdings by Albert Frey, who spent most of his life and career in Palm Springs.

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