“Postering art downtown, because posters aren’t just for big Hollywood movie promos & a way to advertise upcoming shows cheap…”

-Pete Petrisko

JBAK – The Tallest Mural In Arizona from Kitchen Sink Studios ®, INC. on Vimeo.

A video from Kitchen Sink Studios on Berlin-based duo JBAK‘s recent trip to Phoenix in April.

You can read our previous article on JBAK and their mural here

Photos by Drew Baker

Joseph “Sentrock” Perez is a Phoenix-born artist who is currently attending Columbia University in Chicago. You can view previous work from him on the site here.

Photo by Niba DelCastillo

Photos by Ramon Aguirre

Located at McKinley & 3rd St.

The Estria Foundation is a non-profit that seeks to “create social change through the creation of art” on a global a scale. In collaboration with the Black Mesa Water Coalition, they organized this mural in downtown Phoenix as part of “Water Writes”, a series of 10 murals in major cities across the world that shed light on social and environmental issues. Dozens of artists came together to complete the wall in less than two weeks with help from friends, family, and children.

The mural depicts the stark differences of what energy consumption/water usage means for those of us living in the Valley and for Indigenous communities to the North. On the left, images of coal mining operations and refineries set a backdrop to the golf courses and demanding lifestyle that urban residents enjoy, but that the environment and many communities pay dearly for. On the right hand side are more hopeful pleas for what the future could look like– wind farms, solar panels, and native foods are intertwined in urban and rural settings.

For more on how water usage in Arizona disproportionally effects Native communities, read a previous interview with Jules Badoni here.

Artists involved include Angel Diaz, Jeff Slim, Kim Smith, Edgar Fernandez, Jules Badoni, Sinek, Ramon Aguirre, Averian Chee, Lalo Cota, and more. Other organizations involved include PUENTE, Tonatierra, Phoenix Revitalization Corporation, and the Downtown Phoenix Partnership.

Thomas “Breeze” Marcus and Douglas Miles of Apache Skateboards traveled to New Orleans this Spring for the 44th Annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. While there, they painted two murals and installed a showing of the traveling “What Tribe?” show that premiered in Phoenix this past March.

To see more photos and a read a write up from Breeze on the trip, visit his website here.

Artist and physician Chip Thomas, a.k.a. Jetsonorama pasted this work a few months ago on a friend’s trailer in Tuba City, located in Northeastern Arizona on Navajo Nation.

Jetsonorama has been featured on this site many times before, especially for the ongoing Painted Desert Project.

To view more of his work, visit past posts or his blog here.

Photos by JG of 3bucksss

Photos from the opening and Third Friday reception of “I Just Woke Up”, Noelle Martinez‘s solo show at Palabra Collective during the month of April.

To learn more about the show, read our previous article and interview with Martinez here.

This past month, The Icehouse hosted the second installment of “Between Scenes”, a creative look into the film industry through art and installation. Curated by Sara Nevels, the show featured 11 different artists representing their trade in the industry ranging from directors and technicians to production and costume designers.

Nevels writes in the press release:

“It’s common knowledge that films, as a whole, are pieces of art. But rather than create another art-related event for films to be seen, I wanted to create a space where the crew could be seen and valued as the artists they truly are, outside from their involvement with a specific film,” explains curator Sara Nevels. “We do not show any films, but rather directly expose the community to the talented artists that make up a film, in order for viewers to gain a better understanding and appreciation for the work done between scenes. And there’s no better environment to showcase an artist than in an art gallery.”

For more info, including a complete list of artists involved, visit the website here.

Images from “Every Which Way: the Eclectic Art of Jon Arvizu”, which showed in MonOrchid Gallery during the month of April.

To see more of Arvizu’s work, visit his website here.

Antonio Pasos completed this mural on PSA Art Awakenings, a non-profit dedicated to empowering the mental health community through creative means, located off Roosevelt Row in Downtown Phoenix.

On their website, PSA Art Awakenings writes:

This mural received direct input from several of our artists including ideas, sketches, suggestions and execution of the final design, all overseen by Antonio Pasos, PSA Art Awakenings Master Artist in Residence.

To the left of the mural there is a single hand lighting a match to a large candle indicating the “Light that Art Awakenings sheds onto the darkness of our symptoms”, the mural begins to radiate light and color on both sides of the composition through the various mediums and techniques we offer. Colorful tile and mosaic, music (the keyboard around the large blue face), the paint brushes and the palette around the central image speaks to our various arts components. All of which contribute to the stairway leading towards the the clouds, to the goals and how far we can reach.

On the right hand side we see a couple growing out of a large tree symbolizing the rebirth of a dormant life run down by symptoms and public shame. Next we see a classic calligraphy legend in Arabic that says “Hope”. Towards the bottom we see a large hand offering a white pure flower, “meaning the innocence lost, and regained through recovery and creativity”.