Public Art – Page 5 – longlistshort

NYC Public Art- The High Line- Rosana Paulino

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

May 092025

The Creation of the Creatures of Day and Night by Rosana Paulino was recently commissioned by the High Line in New York and is on view until December 2025.

From the High Line’s website about the artist and the work-

Rosana Paulino’s practice spans drawing, painting, suture, printmaking, collage, sculpture, and installation. Her work foregrounds social, ethnic, and gender issues, taking particular care to explore the lasting legacy of slavery and the history of both racial and gender-based violence in Brazil. The artist weaves personal, scientific, and historical archives throughout her work, using these materials to demonstrate and then deconstruct violent colonial structures, particularly as they relate to Afro-Brazilian women. Taking into account the impact these archives and memories have on collective values and belief systems, Paulino examines the construction of myths—not only as an aesthetic pillar but also as a key influence on cultural consciousness.

The Creation of the Creatures of Day and Night is a continuation of the artist’s mangrove series, which depicts tree-women as a mythological archetype and symbol for the Brazilian biome. Paulino notes that mangroves, like the country’s Black and Indigenous people, have been mistreated and exploited. The artist highlights the symbolic meaning inherent in this ecosystem: It is where life begins, as a home for countless species and as a blue carbon reservoir, and where life ends, due to the decomposition of the mangrove itself. In The Creation of the Creatures of Day and Night, Paulino re-imagines this duality between life and death as day and night. From left to right, the color of the sky fades from daylight to a deeper, midnight hue. In lieu of gilded halos traditionally seen in European representations of holy figures, the tree-women’s heads are framed by halos resembling the sun and the moon. Similarly, the animals surrounding the goddesses also reference the transition from day to night. On the left side of the composition, Paulino depicts two diurnal birds native to the mangrove biome: the white egret and, in the tree-woman’s hands, the scarlet ibis. To her right, the other goddess holds an owl and is flanked by two bats, both of which are nocturnal. Together, these elements present a rich, new mythological framework for the mangrove, offering a departure from depictions shaped by colonization and exploitation.

Apr 252025

Mural by Donald Walker

ArtFields Community Mural by Jessica Diaz, Morgan Funkhouser, Olivia Cramer, Sam Ogden

Today’s flashback is to 2021 and a trip to Lake City, South Carolina to check out ArtFields. Started in 2013, the event is a wonderful example of how the arts can revitalize local economies.

So what is ArtFields? Every year for one week local businesses and galleries host works created by artists from the Southeastern United States for a competition with prizes totaling over $145,000. There are also two People’s Choice Awards which are determined by the attendees of the festival. The other awards are chosen by a panel of art professionals. Special events take place throughout the week and ArtFields Jr. offers a chance to see work by South Carolina students.

This year the event runs from April 25th to May 3rd, 2025. Even if you can’t make it, it’s worth taking a look here at this year’s artwork as well as from past years.

Below are a few selections from 2021-

Mural by Lance Turner

“From This Moment Forward” by Herman A. Keith Jr. inspired by Gee’s Bend Quilters

Partially finished mural by Broderick Flanigan honoring Lake City educators Elouise Cooper and Derrick Faison.

“7 Red Wolves” by Joann Galarza Vega

About the work from the above by Joann Galarza Vega–

“There may be as few as only 7 red wolves remaining in the wild. These animals, like so many others, are disappearing in the shadows of our periphery. Their very existence depends on us, as did their extinction. Let us see them, acknowledge them, acknowledge that biodiversity and the balance of life matters. They are painted bright red in order to stand out and bring attention, no longer hidden away.”

Pictured above is The House on Church Street which in 2021 was used for several art installations including the two below. The first is New Histories: The Gadsden Farm Project by Michael Austin Diaz and Holly Hanessian.

About the installation-

New Histories: The Gadsden Farm Project is a socially engaged art project that explores the new history of the Gadsden County, FL. Once a thriving agriculturally center, the county is now the poorest in the state of Florida and the only county with a majority African American population. Working with a team from the State of Florida Archives, we were able to build relationships with over a dozen small farmers trying to address the area’s status as an economic and food desert. These farmers included first generation immigrants, fourth generation shade tobacco farmers, livestock farmers, and organic vegetable growers. The project is presented here through a dining table installation. Embedded speakers play a series of interviews with participating farmers, and each farmer is represented through an individually designed ceramic dinner. The table is set with live plants, seed bombs, and alfalfa hay.

The installation below, All Too Brief, was created by Gainesville, Florida artist Cindy Steiler.

From the ArtFields website about the installation-

All Too Brief was inspired by the movement of time and the unconscious process where our present moment is being continuously converted to memory. The elements comprising All Too Brief include a series of scrolls of cyanotype photographs and repurposed textiles wound on antique industrial weaving bobbins. Each scroll has a WW2-era laundry pin embossed with a number that corresponds to the written narrative of the images and textiles it holds. This piece is my attempt to document and archive people, places, and fleeting moments I hold dear. This piece became even more meaningful to me this year. My studio assistant at the time this piece was created has since passed.

Finally- while in town it’s also worth checking out the Ronald E. McNair Life History Center and Memorial Park. The Lake City-born astronaut and physicist died tragically in the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger explosion.

Tampa Murals- “Kittys” by Mr. Cory Robinson

Art, Florida Street Art, Painting / Painters, Public Art, Tampa

Mar 222025

The mural above, Kittys, by Florida artist Mr. Cory Robinson, is located outside the Oceanic Market building in Tampa.

You can also find his work on Instagram.

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.

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