Mural Arts Kicks Off #OpenSourcePHL with A Skate-able Sculpture by Jonathan Monk at Paine’s Park

LOVE this whole damn program, and SOOOO excited that Philly finally has something like this to call our own…

First, what’s Open Source? Open Source is an outdoor exhibition of temporary, site-specific art created by 14 of the world’s leading contemporary artists (serval from Philly, of course), including: SWOON, JR, The Dufala Brothers, Sam Durant, MOMO, Michelle Angela Ortiz, Heeseop Yoon… See the full list HERE!

Overall, the artists’ practices vary widely, from sculpture to community muralism to street art. And over the next serval months, they will work with Mural Arts to create larger-scale installations, traversing art with social practice, culminating in a citywide exhibition this October! 

Before we go any further, FULL DISCLOSURE: I am on Open Source’s Advisory Committee. That means I have been apart of a handful of meetings over the last 7 months (or so) offering my opinions on different aspects of Open Source along with a number of amazingly passionate Philadelphians. Needless to say, I wouldn’t have joined such a committee if I was so truly impressed and excited not only by their plans for the project, but also by the amazing people they’ve pulled in to help them execute it, including curator Pedro Alonzo and project manager Monica Campana.

Mural Arts kicked off Open Source earlier this month with a skate-able sculpture by Jonathan Monk at Paine’s Park. Monk’s sculptures are based on concrete works by the minimalist master Sol LeWitt‘s Steps and Pyramid, which both sit across the street at The Anne d’Harnoncourt Sculpture Garden outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art. (And which both look like they belong in a skate park anyhow, haha.)

Stay tuned for more about Open Source over the coming months… Should be able to get a ton of great behind-the-scenes photos and shots of various installations around the city, really looking forward to it!