Artist Artur Silva, in collaboration with Shaunt’e Lewis, designed the mural installed at our North Carmel store titled “Anatomy of a Moment”. The mural’s captivating and thought-provoking design was conceptually shaped by the current historical global pandemic.
About the Artists
Artur Silva
Artur is a multidisciplinary visual artist. He finds ways to transform concepts, oftentimes from personal observations, into installations, sculptures, videos, prints, and paintings. You may recognize some of Artur’s previous work on display at the Alexander Hotel in Indianapolis.
“My main motivation as an artist is to create art that is about how we live, art that describes who we are as people at the current time in history,” said Artur.
Shuant’e Lewis
Shaunte’s bright and bold abstract work ranges from smaller paintings on canvas to digital illustrations and now large-scale murals! Although digital illustration is her primary medium of choice, she thinks working with a single medium can be restrictive to her artistic process.
While she has always been interested in seeing her work on buildings around the city, she didn’t have real-life experience with larger-scale murals until this project. We were honored to offer her the opportunity for an apprenticeship with Artur.
“I knew this was a great opportunity to learn what it takes to scale my artwork into a large mural,” said Shaunt’e.
How the Pandemic Shaped Their Ideas
The quarantine meant Artur and Shaunt’e were faced with reduced resources while creating the concept. Designing inside led Artur to turn his focus to hands and all the things we are prohibited to do with our hands during the pandemic.
“There has been so much focus on hand washing and using our hands in ways we hadn’t thought of before,” said Shaunt’e. “Our hands are our main communicators and we realize during this pandemic how much our hands actually play such an important part in everyday life.”
Artur asked his friends to send photos of their hands doing various activities that Artur and Shaunt’e referenced and drew for several weeks. Most of the planning and illustration was completed in their private spaces and they exchanged drawings back and forth through text and email until they digitally produced their final design.
Sending an Important Message Through Art
With the ability to have creative freedom on this project, Artur and Shaunt’e were able to develop this public art with their own internal articulation. The events of 2020 have changed the way we think about something as simple as our hands, and their design has captured this concept and moment in time.
“In a way, the hands are a stand-in for our longing,” Artur said. “The hands we constantly wash became protagonists in this chapter of our lives.”
Shaunt’e also wanted to incorporate the red hearts because she believes we could all use more love during these difficult times.
“From expressing emotion to manipulating the things around us, to being able to hug or hold a person you love, it was easy to take our hands for granted before the events of 2020,” said Shaunt’e.
Learn more about these artists:
