Newark, NJ
Newark has one of the East Coast's most politically charged and aesthetically ambitious mural cultures. The Ironbound's Portuguese-Brazilian neighborhood walls, the Downtown Arts District's Broad Street corridor, and the blocks around Rutgers-Newark all carry work that reflects a city built by working people from everywhere. Newark paints from a position of pride — and an awareness of being underestimated for too long.
Featured Artists
All artists →Miguel Tió
Portuguese-American muralist whose work in the Ironbound — Newark's densely Portuguese-Brazilian neighborhood — has made him the community's visual chronicler. Tió's Ferry Street mural maps three generations of Ironbound immigration history through a single extended-family portrait, painted from photographs supplied by twelve families in the neighborhood.
Dianna Smith
Newark native whose Broad Street murals have documented the city's civil rights movement, its music legacy (Newark is Biz Markie's, Queen Latifah's, and Whitney Houston's city), and the ongoing fight for equity in New Jersey's largest city. Smith paints from a tradition of Newark community activism that predates the mural form.
Jorge Colón
Puerto Rican-American muralist based in Newark's Ironbound whose river-focused work draws on the complicated ecology and history of the Passaic. Colón's Wilson Avenue mural traces the Passaic from its Watchung highlands source to Newark Bay — mapping the industrial contamination and the persistent community alongside it in a work that is as much environmental report as visual art.