MURALS

LOVE IS A MANY GENDERED THING

Providence, Rhode Island 2021

In the beautiful city of Providence Rhode Island, I recently completed another permanent outdoor public mural, coming in at 1700 square feet, and three stories high! Through the efforts of The Avenue Concept, a Providence mural arts organization, I was connected to Open Door Health, a clinic specifically catering to the LGBTQAI+ community and was asked to create a mural on the largest outdoor facade of its brand new location, in my popular ‘line drawing’ style. For this project, I chose to create portraits of primarily Providence residents that span the queer and gender spectrums, as well as portraits of important nationally known Transgender icons. Set against a fluid interpretation of the Transgender flag, I wove the together the 14 portraits with symbols and imagery of transformation, gender fluidity, queer affirmation, and local flora and fauna. The result is “Love is a Many Gendered Thing”; a dynamic and life affirming tapestry of real people whose queer beauty and gender uniqueness I am honored and humbled to offer more positive visibility to the world.

Location: 21 Central St., Providence RI 02907

Dimensions: 42' W x 40' H  (about 1700 square feet)

Client:Open Door Health (Providence's first LBGTQ+  focused clinic, IG:

Producers: The Avenue Concept (a non-profit Providence public arts organization

Sponsors: Pearl Street Lofts Association, Armory Revival Corporation, Adler's Design Center & Hardware and the Providence Hilton Hotel

PEOPLE FEATURED IN THE MURAL

(*- deceased):

Alice Firefly (she/them) (non-binary) (Providence) 

*Chris Harris (he/him) (cis man) (Providence)  

*Cristina Hayworth (she/her) (trans woman) (NYC)

Elle Moxley (she/her) (trans woman) (NYC/LA) 

iO Tillet Wright (he/him) (trans man)(NYC/LA) 

Kayden Marz (he/him) (trans man) (Providence) 

Matt Garza (they/them) (non-binary) (Providence)

Nick Platzer (he/him) (cis man) (Providence) 

Nielle Taylor (they/them) (non-binary) (Providence) 

Richie De Filippo (he/him) (cis man) (Providence) 

Shey Rivera Rios (they/them) (non-binary)(Providence) 

*Sylvia Rivera (she/her) (trans woman) (NYC)  

*Tatiana Jones (she/her) (trans woman) (Providence)  

and myself (he/him) (NYC)

PRESS LINKS

CBS News 12 (TV feature). https://www.wpri.com/news/local-news/providence/mural-recognizing-lgbtq-rights-goes-up-in-providence/

WBZE News Radio (Boston). https://wbznewsradio.iheart.com/content/mural-honoring-the-lbgtq-community-is-unveiled-in-providence/

HRC. https://www.hrc.org/news/am-equality-july-28-2021

Boston Spirit Magazine. https://bostonspiritmagazine.com/2021/07/massive-wall-mural-in-providence-honors-local-lgbtq-leaders/

Boston Globe. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/07/26/metro/mural-honoring-lgbtq-icons-is-standing-tall-providence/

Special Thanks: Nick Platzer, Alice Firefly, Josh Lee, Cassie, Matt Garza, The Haus of Glitter, Fran, Yarrow, Everyone at The Avenue Concept, Rich Ferri, Pepper,  Richie De Filipo, Dr. Amy Nun, Everyone at Open Door Health, Tatiana Jones, Cristina Hayworth, Sylvia Rivera, Chris Harris, iO Tillet Wright, Elle Moxley, Shey Rivera Rios, Nielle Taylor, Kayden Marz, Alexa Gagosz, Drew Moholland, Kait Walsh, Jacqui Gomersall, The Providence Hilton

Onitsuka Tiger

New York, NY 2020

M3 Hotels

Geneva, Switzerland, 2019

I was honored to have the opportunity in September of 2019 to grace the lobby windows and walls of the new M3 Hotel in Ferney-Voltaire, just outside Geneva, with an expansive freehand ‘automatic’ mural in my signature line-drawing style. As with all of my murals, I wanted this project to reflect the energy and history of the location, and so I chose to focus on a tremendously influential resident of the area from the 18th century, Voltaire, as well as his close circle of peers and of course include visions of local flora, fauna and furniture.  Not only would this theme be site specific, but also connect to an existing neon light installation suspended high in the lobby’s atrium that features the names of Voltaire and his friends in bright colors.  

The mural was created in two parts, one in yellow acrylic paint marker on a wall of windows looking out into a garden passage, and the other, in pink acrylic paint marker on the opposite interior wall that features small mobile desks with plugs and wifi. 

The interior pink mural, composed of complex, interwoven line drawings, features prominent portraits of Voltaire and his friend and colleague Emilie du Chatelet. In Voltaire’s left hand is a book with a bouquet of flowers exploding outward to represent the sense of enlightenment in Voltaire’s writing and philosophy. In his right hand he is holding a skull as he was a thinker, and a man of Science.  Next to his shoulder sits his pet canary. Emilie Du Chatelet, drawn with hair piled high with flowers and butterflies, is seen holding dividers in her left hand as she was a mathematician and holding a portrait of Sir Isaac Newton in her right arm as she was also a famed physicist and the first to translate Newton’s original works into French. Surrounding Voltaire and Emilie are images of what the Chateau of Voltaire may have looked like; gorgeous chandeliers, candelabras, vases and piles of books scattered about among writing quills, feathers, bouquets of flowers filling the space while a cat plays, a dog sleeps and butterflies, fill the air.

The yellow mural on the opposite wall of windows looking out into the green foliage beyond features portraits of Marie Louise Mignot (Madame Denis), the niece (and secret lover) of Voltaire and the artist Jean Etienne Liotard. Surrounding the portraits is a vast display of plants and animals that are native to France and Switzerland. If you look carefully, you can see an Alpine Ibex, and Lynx, the Swiss national bird the Turaco, or its flower, the Edelweiss. I also added in a bit of creative fantasy for good measure, like a mythical beast that is half-deef, half-phoenix and a little frog riding atop a squirrel.

Both murals also include an array of my own favorite artistic symbols, particularly hands and teeth. Teeth are a re-occurring symbol throughout my artwork as a kind of grounding human totem, or signature. Teeth are our bones on display, an elemental part of each us that is used in the highest form of expression like language, and the most basic, like eating. They are the last part of us to decay and often the only way to confirm our existence after we have died.  Thus, I use them throughout the mural as a kind of decoration of our collective human energy and presence. In regards to hands, beyond just loving to draw them, I also believe them to be a great relatable way to express distinct human emotions, styles, ideas and connections to others and other things. They represent both the people I’ve made portraits and of the viewers of the mural as vicarious participants in the visual panorama. 

J. CREW Headquarters

NYC, 2019

A freehand ‘automatic’ mural for J.Crew in collaboration with VM Architecture and Design celebrating human creativity, diversity and collaboration at their sparkling new corporate headquarters in downtown Manhattan. To achieve this I create a line drawing tapestry of interwovens drawings of working and helping hands, tools of the fashion trade like pencils, needles and thread, scissors and measuring tape, fashionable items like heels, sunglasses an imaginative array of flora and fauna like peacocks, sunflowers and hummingbirds. The result is a modern fluid lace that sparks the imagination and delights the eye. I captured a timelapse of the mural’s creation with my Go-Pro in the video below. Manhattan, July 2019.

WERQ mural

The Playground, NYC, 2019

Freehand mural on glass celebrating Queer people in the workplace at The Playground, Brooklyn. June 2019

PAY IT NO MIND

Dallas, Texas, 2019

“PAY IT NO MIND”

A 2100 square foot mural I designed and painted in Dallas honoring Trans women of color Marsha P Johnson and Sylvia Rivera present at the Stonewall Riots and key figures in the Queer Liberation Movement. Commissioned by Arttitude, the Dallas Council of Cultural Affairs, Impulse, and the Cedar Springs Merchant Association. May 2019.

LOVE MY WAY

Hyeres, France, 2019

A series of freehand, automatic murals on Mirrored walls, gates and glass at the Villa Romaine, as part of the “Love My Way” exhibition, presented by Villa de Noailles in Hyeres, France. April 2019.

PRIED

Queer themed freehand mural on metallic vinyl for PRIED exhibition at The Society of Arts & Crafts, Boston. April 2019.

POWERMASK

The Wereld Museum, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2017

POWER MASK, The Wereld Museum. Rotterdam. August 2017- March 2018. Curated By Walter Van Bierendonck. 

For this museum exhibition, I created a  25 meter long free-hand mural on an exhibition wall from which 64 incredible enthnographic, contemporary art, pop culture and couture fashion masks were hung. I created a vast tablaeu of mythical, strange and familiar creatures for every mask and more, all reaching out toward each other, and posing together; a dynamic tapestry of figurative imagination.