Artist Dan Fenelon is painting life into the stairwell at Montclair Art Museum; since September 25, he’s been working on a giant mural, “Myths, Memories, and Inspirations. How does he do it? Go to his website wavedog.com (love that web name) and you’ll see a photo journal of his progress to date.
Fenelon is working on the mural throughout October and plans to complete it by November 1. The final mural will measure 4 feet high, 32 feet wide, starting 12 feet from the ground. The stairway faces east, toward Bloomfield Avenue, highly visible from the street…And if you’re thinking, “that sure looks familiar,” well, you’ve probably seen Fenelon’s mural adorning the stairwell of the Montclair Public Library.
Dan Fenelon is best known for his vibrantly colored works that include sculpture, toys, paintings, and murals. His work blends cartooning, street art, graffiti, and ancient tribal motifs. This mural is inspired by works in MAM’s permanent collection, which Fenelon re-imagines with his distinct tribal style. Apparent in the mural are Tony Abeyta’s Hunters Procession, 1995, animal imagery found on both totem poles and transformation masks, and various pottery, basketry, and katsina images found within MAM’s Rand Gallery of Native American art. Fenelon, like Abeyta, believes that “if paintings are successful, they should communicate a powerful force, a feeling that is contained in all of us.” In this work, Fenelon translates these feelings and inspirations of native art into his own vocabulary and vision.
MAM Director Lora Urbanelli says: “Dan approaches his canvas intent on capturing a deep and serious cultural spirit. In the synthesis, myth and symbol are processed through a graphic filter that combines depth of meaning with a lighthearted and dazzling presentation. The result is both youthful and mature, thought-provoking and downright fun!”
Artist’s Statement:
My art infuses a blend of cartooning, street modernism and ancient labor intensive tribal motifs along with an explosion of vibrant colors. Cartoons were a big influence on me growing up and when I began to examine Egyptian heiroglyphs and aztec codecs I made a connection between them and modern sequential art. I thought that combining these elements with designer toys would be just the twist I was looking for in creating a feeling of tribal tradition applied to modern culture. Now I am evolving into using other objects and combining them with my tribal style.
A native of Montclair, Fenelon currently lives in Madison, NJ.
I had the pleasure of photographing Dan for a magazine feature about his work. It was amazing seeing his stuff in his studio. He’s an interesting guy and a lot of fun. I recommend checking out this when it’s done.
A lot of art is interesting. His is: fun.