Mural by Hoxxoh
Location: 408 E. Trade Street
Artist: Hoxxoh
Date: 2018
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @hoxxoh
Story: Miami-based artist, Hoxxoh, is interested in exploring time and the energy of time in his work. He created this work for Talking Walls.
Key Formal Elements:
- Saturated cool color blue dominates the far right
- Pattern and repetition are important
Make the Connection:
Color, pattern, and repetition mix together to create the effect of a tunnel, or a time travel tunnel. Even the gear-shaped edges of each layer suggest the precision of time. Do you feel trapped by this tunnel and its intense structure or do you feel movement and escape?
People the River
Location: 307 Lincoln Street in the alley
Artist: Miouxnie Rane West
Date: 2018
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @miouxnie
Story: From your first step into the Riva Finoli Passage, you are transformed. An industrial, gritty alley is now an inviting, intimate, sparkling walkway full of overhead lights, planters, and fountains. There are six murals planned for this passageway; and the first one is about half way down the right wall if you enter from Lincoln Street. This mural was completed with a grant from the South End Creative Lab, a creative micro-grant program sponsored by Historic South End.
Key Formal Elements:
- Abstract
- Polychromatic color scheme
Make the Connection:
Artist Miouxnie Rane West draws upon the earliest history of this geographical area. Before there were gold mines and farmers battling the British during the American Revolution, Catawba Indians lived on this land. The artist makes several references to the Native American culture in her painting. Can you locate the dream catcher? Find the eyes of the profile of a figure complete with a colorful headdress. History will continue to be told through art in the future murals planned for these spaces.
Mural
Location: 1430 S. Mint Street
Artist: Dari Calamari
Date: 2019
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @daricalamari
Story: This mural is sponsored by Brand the Moth and their META Mural Artists Residency Program. Brand the Moth is a non-profit organization creating community based public art projects and supporting emerging artists with the META residency opportunity. Dari Calamari is an artist from their inaugural residency program. Calimari maintains a strong artistic practice based in abstract exploration of line, color, and shape and this is her first mural.
Key Formal Elements:
- Organic shapes
- Patterns
Make the Connection:
Through the use of visual puzzles, blobs, portals and patterns, Calimari gives the viewer an abstract visual feast of colors and shapes. You are invited to this visual delight to take the time to let your eyes tell you what this means.
Fibonacci
Location: 3221 N. Davidson Street side wall of former Solstice Tavern
Artist: Jonay di Ragno
Date: 2017
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @jonaydiragno
Story: This mural is part of a collaboration between three artists and Brand the Moth, a local non-profit creating community-based public art projects. Jonay di Ragno completed the mural on the far left of the side wall. Di Ragno describes himself as an Abstract Expressionist artist and was raised in both Spain and the Caribbean. Fibonacci refers to the Fibonacci Sequence, a mathematical series of numbers. The numbers are often expressed in nature and are seen to have divine or perfect meanings.
Key Formal Elements:
- Focal point in the center of the spiral
- Loose, expressive splashes of warm and cool colors
Make the Connection:
Di Ragno uses the familiar form of the spiral. The spiral is one of the oldest known symbols in art and is often associated with suggestions of life, death, the rising and setting of the sun, and creation. Here the loose bands of the spiral draw you into the center to suggest an energy source and connect to the name of the former Solstice Tavern. This is the most instagrammed mural in Charlotte. Take your picture and post it!
Steel Yard Mural
Location: 1910 South Boulevard
Artist: Ivan Toth Depena
Date: 2019
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @depenastudio
Story: Another Charlotte Rail Trail project, this mural covers the side of the parking garage at The Steelyard. Depena is a sculptor, painter, and public artist who teaches at Queens University of Charlotte. His work bridges art and architecture and embraces the intersection of technology and media. This is Depena’s second Rail Trail project. “Color Forest” is located at the uptown end of the Rail Trail. Both artworks reference color and movement.
Key Formal Elements:
- Cool colors with accents of warm colors
- Precise and analytical lines
Make the Connection:
In this abstract mural, Depena gives us two visual choices. The precisely painted geometric shapes in the background contrast sharply with the organic and flowing blobs of color dancing across the concrete wall. Perhaps the two opposing elements represent the straight lines and solid geometry of the former industrial site while adding the constant movement and fluidity of today’s society. Just a thought.
"Il Grande Disco"
Location: Southeast corner of intersection on the Bank of America Plaza
Artist: Arnaldo Pomodoro
Date: 1974
Media: Bronze
Artist Info: www.arnaldopomodoro.it
Story: This is one of the first public art installations in Charlotte. Created by Italian artist Pomodoro, the sculpture speaks to the growth and energy of the city.
Key Formal Elements:
- Varied texture is used to engage the viewer
- Bronze made by the casting technique
Make the Connection:
When it was first installed, the sculpture physically rotated on an internal axis. Later, changes were made to conform to requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The sculpture is now raised on a platform and includes markers for the visually impaired. It is one of 6 “Il Grande Disco” sculptures installed across the world, from Milan, Italy to Chicago.
Mural
Location: 436 E. 36th Street
Artist: Mike Wirth with Brett Toukatly
Date: 2020
Media: Acrylic paint
Artist Info: @mikewirth, @b_twokat
Story: Mike Wirth is often working behind the scenes on projects, so it is fun to highlight his work in front of the building this time. As a co-founder of the Talking Walls city-wide mural festival and a co-founder of the Southern Tiger Collective, Wirth is a local leader in the mural scene. He also teaches graphic design and digital arts at Queens University of Charlotte.
Key Formal Elements:
- Variety
- Polychromatic color scheme
Make the Connection:
On the side wall of the Industrious NoDa location, Wirth wants to “represent that energy, action, and richness of the NoDa neighborhood” as the foremost arts district in Charlotte. The abstract colors and shapes bounce across the side wall and create movement and activity. Wirth’s signature flow fields unify the composition.