Portuguese street artist Pantonio (pictured working on one of his characteristic blue and black works in Paris, France in 2014) will create a large-scale yet temporary mural at the Aquarium of the Pacific next week as part of festivities for Pow! Wow! Long Beach.” captionposition=”bottom-left” lightbox=”off” floater=”off” floaterposition=”left” floaterdirection=”up”] [aesop_character name=”Cory Bilicko” caption=”Managing Editor” align=”center”] A year after artists from around the world arrived in Long Beach to adorn exterior walls of historic buildings with large-scale murals, Pow! Wow!, the Hawaii-based arts organization behind the project, will return to the city next week with 28 artists transforming local structures into huge canvases.
Founded by visual artists Jasper Wong and Kamea Hadar, Pow! Wow! was originally centered around an event in Hawaii for Valentine’s Day, but it has evolved into a global network of artists that organize gallery shows, lecture series, schools for art and music, mural projects, concerts and live-art projects spanning the globe. Its organizers say the network now boasts over 100 artists and is expanding to include projects in other countries.
One of the local buildings that will get the Pow! Wow! treatment this time around is the Aquarium of the Pacific. Portuguese street artist Pantonio (Antonio Correia) will paint its nearly 2,600-square-foot front wall, but it will only be on view for a few months— demolition on that building will soon take place to make room for the construction of the Aquarium’s Pacific Visions wing.
The inspiration behind the temporary art piece will be the Aquarium’s new Vanishing Animals exhibit, the aim of which is to educate the public about the potential for mass extinction in the ocean and what can be done to prevent it.
Additionally, the Aquarium’s Night Dive event on Thursday, July 14 from 7pm to 11pm will be Pow! Wow!-themed and feature programming with participating artists and activities on the front lawn in view of the mural.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”500px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Screen-Shot-2016-07-07-at-3.19.05-PM.png” credit=”eventbrite.com” align=”left” lightbox=”on” caption=”Sean “Hula” Yoro is a New York-based artist who has created a series of portraits using oil paint on abandoned concrete walls. He uses a stand-up paddleboard to reach the walls, as well as anchors and rope to steady himself as he paints.” captionposition=”left”] “Art helps people make an emotional connection to the social and environmental issues of the day,” said Jerry Schubel, president and CEO of the Aquarium of the Pacific. “It is our hope that this mural will leave a lasting impression with our visitors and inspire them to act on behalf of marine life facing extinction.”
Pantonio’s work is characterized by dark blue and black images reminiscent of the ocean and organic life forms.
“Born in the Azores, he draws inspiration from the black rocks and ocean surrounding the islands,” states a press release from the Aquarium. “His work frequently refers to the sea, with sardines, cod, octopuses, ropes, boats and even mermaids serving as subjects. His work also often carries social messages, echoing modern crises and aiming to disrupt the establishment.”
Last April, Pantonio painted a mural on one of the main streets of Chernobyl in the Ukraine to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the nuclear disaster there. Two years ago, he painted what is deemed Europe’s largest mural in Paris’s 13th district, covering a wall 217 feet tall and 50 feet wide.
Another Long Beach location that will host Pow! Wow! artists is Mark Schneider Fine Jewelry, 245 Promenade N, which will welcome to its walls two artists from Rotterdam— Telmo Pieper and Miel Krutzmann.
“I am excited to be part of this citywide event,” said Mark Schneider, owner of Mark Schneider Fine Jewelry, “and I’m looking forward to seeing what the artist has in mind for my building.”
The business will feature work by local artists and offer a special seating area for people to watch the mural being created.
Pow! Wow! Long Beach will also include other events throughout the week.
The Art Theatre of Long Beach, 2025 E. 4th St., will host a talk with New York City-based photographer Martha Cooper and Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic on Tuesday, July 12 from 7pm to 8pm. Zacharevic and Cooper collaborated on a project of six weeks entitled #ReplayNYC on the streets of New York. Based on the idea of re-imagining selected pictures from Cooper’s collection of photographs through Zacharevic’s brush, the project includes murals and street art interventions.
Tickets are available at cooperernest.eventbrite.com .
Edison Theatre, 213 E. Broadway, will host a fine-art print exhibition on Tuesday, July 12 from 8pm to 10pm. The show will include editions by Pow! Wow! artists from across the globe.
The Art Theatre will also host a discussion with artist Sean “Hula” Yoro and music performances by the Pow! Wow! School of Music. Yoro, a New York-based artist, has created a series of portraits using oil paint on abandoned or lifeless concrete walls.
Yoro, who was born in Hawaii and surfs, uses a stand-up paddleboard to access the walls then uses anchors and rope to steady himself as he paints. Each portrait takes a couple of hours to an entire day to finish. He says he was inspired by an underwater photoshoot he did in which he realized he could fulfill his creativity as an artist while still having fun in the water. Tickets are available at 121hula.eventbrite.com .
Finally, on Friday, July 15, from 7pm to 10pm, the Long Beach Museum of Art, 2300 E. Ocean Blvd., will host Vitality & Verve: In The Third Dimension, featuring immersive, multi-media installations by a select group of nationally and internationally renowned urban contemporary artists, ceramic artists and sculptors and music performances by the Pow! Wow! School of Music. Tickets are available at lbma.org .
For more information about the week’s events, visit powwowlongbeach.com .
