Inspired by the civic nature of the Channing Peake Gallery and the extensive hallways that invite scale, this exhibition began with a consideration of the history of Muralism that is intimately tied to public spaces. While formal art is generally created and displayed in more isolated contexts like galleries and museum, Muralism brings art to the public sphere. Through murals, historically marginalized groups have reclaimed the agency to depict their own stories and achieve greater visibility.
The exhibtion presents ten mural-scale works that have rendered the artists' original work at scale to surround the viewer in the aritsts' vision of themselves and the worlds they occupy or imagine.
Norms, culture, and history shape how we see ourselves, our world, and our place within it. The diverse experience of those who live with disabilities can reframe our assumptions and offer alternative visions for us to consider. Notably, these works begin to challenge our familiar distinctions between the person and the landscape, the real and the imagined, and our internal reality versus that of the external world.
While these artists' styles and languages of mark-making vary, their depictions share a graphic clarity, dynamic energy, and bewildering beauty that invite the viewer into their experience. By offering this lens, New Muralism aspires to expand our understanding or ouselves, others, and our place in our surroundings.