About the artwork
Harrell Fletcher and Avalon Kalin
The Knowledge, 2010
Digitally printed vinyl on concrete wall
Located on the east exterior wall of the 5th Avenue Cinema (Ondine Annex)
This mural by Harrell Fletcher, with assistance from Avalon Kalin, depicts a series of stacked books from Portland State University's Millar Library. Titles include references to the adjacent educational community and local sustainability efforts, as well as topics of interest to the diverse student body, the campus community in general, and neighboring businesses that support the University District area. Students, faculty, and staff participated in a poll to choose the book titles.
About the artists
Harrell Fletcher is an American artist from Santa Maria, California, and a professor of Art and Social Practice at Portland State University. Fletcher has produced a variety of socially-engaged collaborative and interdisciplinary projects since the early 1990s. His work has been shown at SFMOMA, PICA in Portland, CoCA and the Seattle Art Museum in Seattle, the Tate Modern in London, and the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. He was a participant in the 2004 Whitney Biennial. Fletcher has work in the collections of MoMA, the Whitney Museum, the New Museum, SFMOMA, the Hammer Museum, the Berkeley Art Museum, the De Young Museum, and the FRAC Brittany, France.
Avalon Kalin is a graphic artist who makes documentary and social art connected to everyday life. He was an MFA student in the first Social Practice program at PSU when he assisted Fletcher in the creation of The Knowledge.
Learn more on Harrell Fletcher's and Avalon Kalin's websites.
Banner image: Photo by Mary McVein.