Street Murals
Among San Jose’s most visually bold
works are its many public murals.
These sprawling works of art also
showcase the robust presence of the
downtown art scene, as a recent and
burgeoning mural renaissance has
emerged from local artists and nonprofit
arts organizations.
100 BLOCK by Exhibition District
The 100 Block Mural Project is a
sprawling, collective artwork from 100
San Jose artists. Organized by Exhibition
District, a San Jose arts nonprofit
that works to beautify city surfaces
with murals, the 100 participating artists
each designed an individual block
88 South Bay Accent
of art as part of this mural tapestry. As
a collaborative mural, the project may
qualify for a Guinness World Record.
CHASE MURAL by Lacey Bryant
One of the most stunningly rendered
murals in the city, the Chase Mural depicts
a story in six panels in a collaboration
between Exhibition District and
the San Jose Downtown Association.
POW! WOW!
If you’ve seen a mural in downtown San
Jose, chances are you’ve seen a work
created through the Pow! Wow! Festival.
Beginning in 2017, the new festival
gathers artists for a weeklong session
of mural-making all throughout the city.
Convergence
by Jun Kaneko
Posing in front of SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY’S HAMMER THEATRE CENTER,
these four curvilinear sculptures were created by globally renowned
ceramic artist Jun Kaneko, who referred to the pieces as “dangos”
(dumplings in Japanese). The 7-foot tall pieces were crafted from thick
clay before being covered in decorative glazes—playful shapes and patterns
on two, and streaking, paint-like drips of color on the other pair.
Recolecciones
by Mel Chin
Scattered throughout SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY’S DR. MARTIN
LUTHER KING, JR. LIBRARY are 34 site-specific artworks
manifested in wonderfully diverse forms—some quiet, others
dazzling. The “Canary Couch,” a canary-yellow reading
chair, references San Jose’s mining history, while “Babel”
presents parallel walls that are each fitted with intricate
patterns of mirrors. “Fiction/Fiction” makes the secret
library-door fantasy come true, with a literal rotating bookcase
on the library’s first floor. Spanish for “harvest,” the
title of the collection is appropriate for a place where people
come to gather up the truths and history of our world.
CHASE MURAL
CLOCKWISE FRO TOP: JACK YACO, CHRIS AYERS, GREG CASE; OPPOSITE: CHRIS AYERS (3)