APPLETON - A splash of light blue leaps off a gray brick wall. Two hands, overflowing with swatches of different colors, reach toward the sun.
A new mural painted near the intersection of College Avenue and Appleton Street, across from Houdini Plaza in downtown Appleton, is meant to spread "peace, love and positivity," and was inspired by the protests that followed the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man killed by a white Minneapolis police officer who knelt on his neck.
"I truly believe art is a vehicle to empower those people that don't often get heard," said 29-year-old Irenio Medina, who painted the mural in just a few days last week. "I think art is extremely important."
Medina, who has painted several other murals in downtown Appleton, initially developed the painting for a larger space but felt encouraged to do the work by those protesting for racial equality.
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"I just wanted to put that message out there because I knew folks would rally behind me," he said. "I know that it's really important for minorities right now to feel that support and to feel that love."
The mural covers a brick wall across the street from where protesters have gathered multiple times in recent weeks to rally against police brutality and call for racial equality in response to Floyd's death.
"Those causes amplify my direction and my urgency," Medina said.
The mural presented a few practical challenges, Medina said, including a row of bricks that form a ledge across a portion of the painting, along with the shallowness of the sidewalk, which left him without a lot of room to work.
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Medina grew up in Sheboygan, then went to the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and now lives in Kaukauna.
Medina hoped he could use his platform as an artist to "amplify things that need to be heard," he said.
And though Medina hoped his art would reflect the times, he purposefully avoided any negative imagery, deciding instead to focus on positivity.
"That's what we need," he said. "That's what we've always needed."
Contact Chris Mueller at 920-996-7267 or cmueller@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AtChrisMueller.
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June 24, 2020 at 02:02AM
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Hoping to spread ‘peace, love and positivity,’ artist creates new mural in downtown Appleton - Post-Crescent
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