Release Date: June 8,2022
Civic Mural Artist New Mural Reveal
El Mac, artist behind the Civic Mural, returns to Akron to create another mural for the city with Curated Storefront
Akron, Ohio (June 8, 2022) – In conjunction with Curated Storefront, Los Angeles artist El Mac created another mural for Akron, this time to be installed at the Northside district as part of the Outside the Box shipping container public art programming this Friday June 10.
Located in TrueNorth Akron, next to the Rubber City Bike shop, six shipping containers sit in the former empty parking lot thanks to a collaboration between Truth Books owner, Michael Owen and Curated Storefront. Each container is covered in murals by artists from all over the world.
The newest mural to be installed this week is by El Mac. El Mac is best known in Akron for being the lead artist behind the mural on the side of the Civic Theater, facing Bowery Street. The other artist that assisted him in creating the Civic Theater mural was Aise Born, another LA based artist who is also featured at Outside the Box through his “Akron” mural he created last year for Curated Storefront.
El Mac flew back to Ohio in November of 2021 to paint this newest mural which was painted all indoors at Bounce Innovation Hub in Curated Storefront’s Artist Studio Space Avant Garden. When asked about being back in Akron a year later to create another mural, El Mac talked about his feelings for this area. “It feels great to be back and to revisit the Civic Theater mural to see how it’s hanging in there but I do wish I could have come earlier in the year to experience how beautiful and lush the greenery is in Ohio in the summer.” El Mac first visited Ohio in June 2020 to take pictures and prepare for the Civic mural. This was also the first time he had ever seen fireflies in his life and it left quite the impression on him. “It was one of the most memorable things of the year. Seeing the fireflies made both Aise and I feel like little kids and we both have little kids so we are already in that world. I think a lot of people take them for granted but for us it was like, whoa fireflies! I am hoping more opportunities come up in the future to visit Ohio so I can bring my son to see them.”
El Mac’s newest mural titled “Stardust” is based on his son. It depicts his son as a baby looking up towards the sky. Speaking of this new mural El Mac says, “It’s imagery that I hope can be relatable to people and hopefully it suggests youthfulness and new beginnings. I had fun with the rendering, patterns, movement and shapes. It was challenging for me and I think it’s beautiful, so I hope others do too.”
The El Mac mural will be hung in TrueNorth (110 North Main Street) this week in time for the June 10, 2022 Summit Artspace Art Walk. The celebration of the unveiling will include a free spray paint experience led by Katie Barber of Curated Storefront from 4pm – 8pm that will give visitors the chance to create their own art piece in the theme of El Mac’s mural.
All Outside the Box murals can be viewed day and night by those visiting, dining, shopping and staying in the Northside Area. Current murals on the shipping containers are by artists Liane Engstrom, Peeta, John Communale, Aise Born, and Bokty.
Outside the Box was supported by Ohio Arts Council, Michael Owen, Rubber City Bikes and the City of Akron.
About El Mac
EL MAC (Miles MacGregor) is an internationally renowned artist born and based in Los Angeles. He began painting both smaller indoor works as well as public murals and graffiti in Phoenix in the mid 1990s, and since that time has developed his unique visual aesthetic and rendering style which utilizes repeating contour patterns. His work draws on influences from classical European art, social realism, symbolism and devotional art, as well as the Chicano and Mexican culture he grew up around. He is best known for his meticulous paintings and large-scale murals exploring feminine beauty and honoring ordinary, overlooked, or marginalized people. He has been commissioned to paint all over the world, for museums, universities and other cultural institutions, including the Groeninge Museum (Belgium), San José Museum of Art (California), Northeastern University (Boston), University of California (San Diego), QAGoMA (Brisbane), Fondazione PRADA (Italy), and the Mexican secretariat of Foreign Affairs, as well as murals in Belgium, Cambodia, Cuba, Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland, Morocco, Puerto Rico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and Viet Nam. For over twenty years he has aimed “to uplift and inspire through careful, perfectionist renderings of both the sublime and the humble”.
About Curated Storefront
Curated Storefront activates storefronts by transforming an unoccupied and uninteresting street edge into vibrant art displays in an effort to combat blight and create an engaging, safe, and attractive environment. For the past six years, Curated Storefront has presented engaging artwork in multiple unused spaces, commissioned and employed artists, offered educational outreach programs to better engage the public, and stimulated commercial development. More information about Curated Storefront and its other exhibits on display throughout the city can be found at www.curatedstorefront.org or @curatedstorefront.