Art by Dina Saadi
“Follow Your Bliss” is the theme of this year’s Long Beach Walls and Art Renzei Festival, a spectacular art event designed to connect the various Long Beach communities with each other and with art lovers across the globe.
Downtown will figure prominently in this week-long festival (August 14 -19), playing host to several events and installations, the opening ceremony, and the closing party. The FREE event will enable festival goers to enjoy murals and art installations in Downtown and all across Long Beach. There will be artist talks, mural bike tours, and gallery exhibitions featuring local and global artists.
For a detailed schedule of festival events, click here.
Art by Jason Keam
Long Beach Walls is part of the globally recognized Worldwide Walls series (formerly POW! WOW! Worldwide), founded by Jasper Wong, of street art events, which since 2010 has brought murals to public spaces in cities such as Honolulu, Seoul, Washington, D.C.,Taipei, Tokyo and, of course, Long Beach.
“Long Beach Walls and Art Renzei bring together a diverse group of talented artists, muralists, and creators from all over the world who share the goal of promoting culture and fostering connections,” said Julia Huang, a longtime advisor to the festival and CEO of Downtown-based creative agency interTrend Communications. “We are honored that it has become one of the most anticipated cultural art events of the summer in Long Beach that gets better each year.”
An example of Long Beach Walls art is “The Butterfly Hug,” the huge mural on Broadway and Chestnut created by Dina Saadi in 2019 of a woman’s face surrounded by bursts of color. Saadi is returning as one of the 19 mural artists selected to be part of this year’s Long Beach Walls.
This year’s lineup will include works from local, national and international artists Dina Saadi, Roshi, Jack Soren, Ryan Griffin, Jason Keam, Stevie Shao, Shar Tui’Asoa, SUPERWAXX, Mister Toledo, Nevermade, Royal Dog, Jess Weymouth, James Shen, Lauren YS, Leho, Crystal Wagner, Jennifer Tran, Balloonski, and Olivia Steele.
“My mission as an artist has always been to use my talents and passion for art to give back and be of service to the global community. Long Beach Walls allows me to fulfill that mission by creating a public artwork that is aimed at uplifting and inspiring the viewers who connect with my work,” said Los Angeles-based artist SUPERWAXX.
Art by Leho
Art Renzei, presented by nonprofit Creative Class Collective, is a multimedia art festival created to blur the distinction between a work of art and its environment. Be prepared to encounter artwork along the lines of Tom Fruin’s “Camouflage House,” the stained glass structure, beautifully illuminated from within, that appeared on Alamitos Beach and provided uplift to passersby during the early days of the pandemic.
“We wish to thank our fantastic partners the Downtown Long Beach Alliance, the City of Long Beach, Long Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, Worldwide Walls, Monster Energy, XLarge, Long Beach Airport, Montana Cans, Dunn Edwards and many other community partners for helping make this event possible,” said Cassandra Leeman, Executive Director of Creative Class Collective, the organization created through interTrend Communications that is behind many Long Beach art initiatives, including Long Beach Walls.
We hope to see you Downtown enjoying this year’s new creations as well as the many large-scale works from years past. Please plan on attending the event’s opening ceremony, Monday August 14 from 9 AM to 11 AM at The Cove at the Long Beach Convention Center.
Also, mark your calendar for the closing party, set for Saturday, August 19 on the Promenade at Mosaic between 3rd and 4th streets from 6 to 10 PM. Both events are FREE! To register, click here.