This mural by Cambodian artist Andrew Hem went up over the weekend, another contribution from The Avenue Concept. Text taped to the cherry-picker parked on the lot yields this background information.
Born during his parent’s flight from Cambodia in the wake of the Khmer Rouge genocide, Andrew Hem grew up poised in the balance between two cultures — the rural animistic society of his Khmer ancestors, and the dynamic urban arts of the tough Los Angeles neighborhood where his family eventually settled. . . Working in gouache, oil and acrylic, he weaves atmospheric, richly textured narratives in a vivid palette of twilight blues that is enlivened by swaths of deep red and splashes of golden light.
The fire escape side of The Fez on Peck Street is to the right. The mural faces on Friendship Street.
The Avenue Concept is providence’s first public art program. This is the organization behind Influx 2016, more than 20 works of art by local, national, and international artists, including murals, sculptures, and mosaics. Some of the pieces are positioned on traffic islands or near traffic lights. Many of these pieces are for sale.