Coming out of the pandemic, The Philadelphia Museum of Art had a major exhibit upcoming and needed ideas on how to connect with the community in fresh ways. The Matisse in the 1930s exhibit was important, not only because Matisse is one of the world’s great artists, this period of his artistic output was heavily influenced by his time spent in Philadelphia. That’s why this remarkable exhibit was only US stop was Philadelphia.
Given the city’s love of mural artists, and the fact that Matisse came to Philadelphia for a commission to do a mural for the Barnes Foundation, we came up with the idea of hiring five artists, to make five murals, in five weeks. We’d interview these artists, track their progress, and create an 8 part series that was used on social media and to generate press and a buzz for the exhibit.
The project was a major success, generating press, social media engagement, and good will with the local artistic community. And of course, the Matisse exhibit drew strong crowds.