Mural Project at Fenimore
Mural Project in Pioneer Park
Brooklyn artist and muralist Angel Garcia is currently in Cooperstown leading a project that tips a hat to artist Keith Haring, subject of our summer exhibition, Keith Haring: Radiant Vision. In collaboration with the Village of Cooperstown and the Fenimore, Garcia is creating a mural in Pioneer Park in the heart of the Village featuring artwork inspired by Haring’s style and including references to Cooperstown themes.
Garcia first got involved painting murals in high school as part of an after-school program with Groundswell, a nonprofit organization that brings together artists, youth, and community organizations to use art as a tool for social change. “Through their programming, I was able to learn more about murals and focus my artistic journey toward public art and a painting practice centered around social issues,” he wrote in an email interview with the museum.
Garcia’s work now includes ten public murals in New York City. He wrote that he enjoys the process of creating a design based on the community’s values woven into larger themes of social justice. His murals have explored issues of justice and equity for migrants and refugees, combating racism, cultural diversity, hope, and community histories.
As a young artist growing up in New York City, Garcia noted that Keith Haring’s artwork had subliminally influenced his own art practice. “Haring’s ‘Crack is Wack’ mural in Harlem is one of the first public murals I can remember seeing when I was learning about public art. I really enjoy the way Haring used his deceptively simple visual vocabulary to tackle colossal subjects with seemingly minimal effort.” His other artistic influences include muralists Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. In his studio practice, Garcia is influenced by the work of contemporary painter Kerry James Marshall.
Garcia earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration from the Fashion Institute of Technology and continues his work painting public murals in New York City.
According to Paul D’Ambrosio, Fenimore Art Museum’s president and CEO, who, with his staff, initiated the project, the mural will become part of the Fenimore’s permanent collection after the Haring exhibition closes on September 6.
