This Spanish Artist Created a ‘Rainbow Embassy’ to Enliven an Arkansas City. See Pictures Here

If you’re cruising through the residential areas of Fort Smith,
Arkansas, and you see a wildly painted house that shines like a
rainbow come to Earth, you’re probably looking at the latest public
art project in a municipality that punches above its weight in such
programming.

This jubilant new art project, dubbed Rainbow Assembly,
is by Spanish artist Okuda San Miguel. Commissioned by the
“curation and production firm” Justkids, San Miguel has given a
makeover to a big, run-down house near a public school in a
residential area, transforming it into a riot of color. The newly
enlivened building sports multicolored stripes, stars, squiggles,
and other geometric patterns, as well as the faces of two
creatures, reminiscent of a dog and a bird.

San Miguel’s intervention is his second artistic undertaking in
Fort Smith; in 2019 alone, he’s also created projections for the
Havana Biennial, a high-rise apartment building in Moscow, and a
show at San Francisco gallery Heron Arts.

But this Arkansas city, which has previously hosted projects by
an international roster of street artists like Shepard Fairey and
Faile, holds a special place in San Miguel’s heart. “I loved coming
back to Fort Smith,” he said in a statement about the project.
“It’s a very peaceful place to create, and it was the perfect
balance after having worked in Manhattan and just before heading
into the madness of Miami Art Week.”

How did this seemingly unlikely city become home to projects by
such an impressive cadre of artists? It all comes down to Steve
Clark, a serial entrepreneur who grew up in the area and who aimed
to revitalize the largely abandoned historic downtown of Arkansas’
second-largest city, with a population of just 90,000.

To that end, Clark recruited French-American curator Charlotte
Dutoit’s Justkids, which specializes in producing public art
projects, to organize The Unexpected, an annual arts festival that
includes installations, murals, and public art. It’s been ongoing
since 2014, and has brought work by artists including André
Saraiva, Ana Maria, and Crystal Wagner to town. Justkids, which has
offices in New York and San Juan, Puerto Rico, has also created
public art projects in cities from Las Vegas to Boston. (Its name
comes from Dutoit’s memories of her beginnings in underground and
DIY art scenes in Paris and her feeling that sometimes the art
world is too serious.)

“Okuda’s high spirited and immersive works are a true gift of
joy to the community,” said Dutoit in a statement, adding that they
are “​nothing short of a dream come true.”

See more photos of San Miguel’s project below.

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Enliven an Arkansas City. See Pictures Here appeared first on
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