Sand Murals by Joe Mangrum Visit Chicago

Joe Mangrum and Sergio Gomez at 540 W. Madison, Chicago IL

I love to come in contact with all kinds and forms of art making. I find a great appreciation when the art work transcends the gallery walls and engage in interaction with the public at large. At that point, the conversations that preoccupy us as artists and art professionals become meaningless for a general public who discover that art is more than decoration and that it can co-exist in their everyday life.

Such is the case of NYC based artist Joe Mangrum who actually studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago before moving to the big apple. He began the sand painting technique in 2006 after observing and studying traditional techniques of sand artmaking from various cultures. He creates each sand painting spontaneously and pours the colored sand from his hand. His installations in ephemeral materials such as florals and found objects have been exhibited at the de Young Museum, San Francisco and various galleries in both San Francisco and NYC; Florence, Italy and Beijing, China.

One of the most fascinating parts of this is watching him work. I first saw Joe working on an outdoor installation at Linda Warren Gallery last week and a couple days ago, I watched him work at the lobby of 540 W. Madison in Chicago. As I watched and photographed Joe from a variety of angles, I had the opportunity to observe random people stop by in awe of such wonderful work. Not only they stopped to watch but they also smile and sometimes engaged in questions and conversations or took pictures with their smart phones. That wonderful and unrehearsed interaction sometimes hard to find within the confines of galleries makes this such a worthwhile effort. A big thanks goes to Amy King of King Art Collective for organizing and facilitating Joe Mangrum’s work in Chicago.

Now that the installations are finished, you can purchase limited edition prints and come to meet the artist. Below are the dates and times of the artist talks. Hope you can come by and experience such wonderful works!