Fragile
2024 Street Wise Mural Festival
Location: Lawry Ln alleyway behind Patagonia, 1630 Pearl St Boulder, CO 80302
Photos by Dona and Niko Laurita
Fragile, Oak Bloak’s mural for #SWMF2024, reveals the delicate and interconnected nature of our planet.
An Adélie penguin balances precariously on a block of glacial ice in the middle of choppy, dark water. The sky fills with thick storm clouds in moody shades of blue, green, and red, casting shadows on the glaciers below. The glaciers jut from the water, some reaching great heights while others barely peek out from the water.
The penguin’s icy refuge slowly melts beneath him as our planet warms due to human-driven climate change. The viewer can read the animal’s anxiety in his wide open eyes and fanned out wings attempting to keep him afloat as he shifts his weight onto one foot. A bead of sweat flies off his face. The penguin looks as if he’s about to tumble toward the viewer, his wings and head reaching past the frame.
Influenced by a recent trip to London and Paris, Oak Bloak pulls inspiration from the Old Masters, particularly from classical art compositions, religious subject matter, and Baroque and Romantic paintings. In Fragile, he arranges the scene’s elements in a triangular composition. This creates a sense of harmony, guides the viewer’s eye, and emphasizes the focal point of the penguin. The artist found tremendous power in replacing the typically human subjects of these artworks with a non-human protagonist.
Oak Bloak names the painting styles of Diego Velázquez and Théodore Géricault as key influences for this project. His mural reveals their influence through its dark and moody elements and the use of shadows, contributing to the drama that comes with depicting the scene at the height of action. Fragile elicits emotion and passion in the viewer.
The artist hopes that his mural turns that emotion into action to fight climate change, evidenced by the “fragile” sticker urging viewers to get involved. Oak Bloak includes a QR code linking viewers to organizations leading the fight against the catastrophic warming of the Earth. Monetary donations to or direct involvement with these organizations makes a just future for all living things possible. Small actions can have great effects!
About the Artist:
Max Coleman "Oak Bloak", is an illustrator and painter from Denver, Colorado. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, his work venerates nature, and challenges classical conceptions of beauty. The human condition, mythology, and spirituality are all recurring motifs used throughout his drawings. In recent years, his studio practice has garnered attention exploring these same themes through animal portraiture.
As a muralist, Coleman’s work can be seen across the Front Range communities of Colorado. Much of his work carries an ecological or transcendental message of optimism and gratitude. Through the use bright color and massive scale, his murals create spaces for thought and introspection, where viewers can engage with deeper parts of themselves. You can find him most days at Magpie Studios in Lakewood, Colorado.