If you have ever visited an art museum, then you know that in most places, the imposing, stark white walls of the gallery have no other function than to support the frames containing splashes of paint worth millions of dollars. Well, things are a bit different when it comes to the Long Beach Museum, California. Here, the art on display is not just limited to tiny canvas frames–it flows out in leaps and bounds to cover the entire white surface of the walls in breathtaking murals of magnanimous proportions.
Graffiti and street arts of all kinds are increasingly gaining ground over conventional paintings for one simple reason beside others–why limit your work to a small rectangle when the entire wall could be your personal canvas. In line with this ideology and to encourage the work of popular urban street artists, the Long Beach Museum as a part of the project ‘Vitality and Verve‘ offered its gallery walls to some promising artists to transform them into exceptional and stunning master pieces using traditional and non-traditional art media.
Pointing out the most intriguing part of the exhibition, Robert Nelson, Executive Director shared, “Once the exhibition ends, the walls will be repainted and prepared for the next exhibition. Therefore, it is important for art enthusiasts to see this amazing exhibition before it closes.” But you need not worry because even if you are leagues away from the gallery, your eyes will not miss out on the artistic brilliance of it.
Scroll down and ponder over the choicest works from the walls of the Long Beach Museum that we have selected for you.
1. Audrey Kawasaki
Audrey Kawasaki usually works with characters of mysterious women who have their own unique charm. Audrey likes playing with the theme of contradiction. For instance, this particular art work has a luminescent innocence about it but at the same time, the air of eroticism embedded in it can’t be ignored. Her work is influenced by manga comic and Art Nouveau. The women that feature in her art works, at once enchant the viewer with their piercing eyes and delicate contour.
2. Jeff Soto
Jeff Soto is a painter, illustrator and muralist who has exhibited in galleries and museums around the world. The artist’s distinct colour palette, subject matter and technique resonate with a growing audience and bridge the gap between pop surrealism and street art. Inspired by youthful nostalgia, nature and popular culture, his bold, representational work is simultaneously accessible and stimulating.
3. James Bullough
James Bullough is an American-born artist living and working in Berlin, Germany. His paintings and huge monumentally-scaled site-specific murals are phenomenal combinations of realist painting technique and graphic illustrations. Almost all his works seem disjointed and incomplete but this feature itself forms the most compelling and unique aspect of his work such that his pieces are instantly recognizable amidst a hoard of others.
4. Alex Yanes
Alex Yanes’ art work is eccentric yet relatable. It embodies a use of colour and imaginative subject matter that speaks to art connoisseurs and new art lovers, alike. The best part is that even if the subject matter is solemn or depressing, the use of quirky colours makes the imagery endearing and interesting so that the composition conveys a deep and moving meaning without taking the viewer on an emotional overdrive.
5. NoseGo
Yis ‘Nosego’ Goodwin is a Philadelphia-based artist who mixes fine art with contemporary style to create energetic and vibrant compositions. The characters that he uses in his works are generally inspired from his routine surroundings or the esoteric realm of dreams. His designs are whimsical and original and have a ‘fairytale’ feel to them. This particular mural (shown below) is a recreation of one of his lucid dreams.
We’re mesmerised by these gorgeous walls and the creativity that each one exudes. If you’d like to take a closer look at the other exhibits of ‘Vitality and Verve’, the exhibition is on till the 27th of September 2015 at the Long Beach Museum.
