Join us for an afternoon chat between Art at Mission‘s first exhibiting artist, Calo Rosa, and curator Conrad Benner (aka me)!

WHEN: Saturday, August 11 from 2-4pm
WHERE: Mission Taqueria (1516 Sansom Street, 2nd Floor)

We’ll have some small snacks available, you can grab a marg (or two!) – and we’ll hear from Calo about his life and career, including his mural work around Philly and his stunning new four-paneled mural, titled “Tropicalizada,” that’s currently installed in the outdoor courtyard at Mission Taqueria.

Calo will also have prints and a few small works on paper available for purchase!

ARTIST TALK SCHEDULE – AUGUST 11
2:00-2:30pm Reception (this is when you get your dang margs!)
2:30-3:15pm Artist Talk + Audience Q&A
3:15-4:00pm Calo to Sell Prints and Small Works* (support local artists, y’all!)

*Cash and Venmo will be accepted 

ABOUT THE ARTIST – CALO ROSA
Born in San Salvador, Calo lives and works in Philadelphia where he has created some of our city’s most beautiful, eye-catching murals. (Evidence here, here, and even this little guy here!) Calo comes from a family of artists with diverse media including graphic design, Brazilian percussion, oil painting, and cake-making. He holds a degree in Fine and Visual Arts from the Centro Nacional de Artes (CENAR) and a degree in graphic design from Don Bosco University. And after becoming frustrated with the exclusivity of the San Salvador gallery scene, he began to define his own street art style. Calo’s colorful pieces portray the vibrant Latin American culture, and mirror the sounds, roots, and forms of the urban-tropical lifestyle.

ABOUT “TROPICALIZADA” – CALO’S ARTIST STATEMENT
Since the first encounters of European civilization with the tropics, their fascination with the flora and fauna of the “New World” grew quickly in to a desire to own it.

They tried to “civilize” life in the tropics, implementing by force a Eurocentric way of living. An example: The Manaus Opera House, a theater built in the middle of the Amazon, home to the Amazon Philharmonic Orchestra.

This mural depicts classic European ideals of beauty taken over by plants—the tropics de-colonizing a decaying Eurocentric way of life. An ode to natural beauty overcoming oppression.

ABOUT #ARTATMISSION 
‘Art at Mission’ is a new project that’s transforming Mission Taqueria’s courtyard into a rotating outdoor arts space curated by me, Streets Dept’s founder Conrad Benner. (Learn more here!)

Hope to see y’all on August 11th… If you’re so inclined, please RSVP on our Facebook event page and tell all your friends to join us too!