The Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona is happy to announce our first private sector project with Fry’s Food Stores and local artist, Ruben Urrea Moreno. The store (Valencia and Valley Indian Agency) will celebrate its grand opening on December 9, 2016, along with the unveiling of Moreno’s original, in-store mural.
Photo by Ruben Moreno
Photo by Ruben Moreno
Moreno was selected for this piece after Fry’s and The Arts Foundation worked together to generate a public call to artists and to facilitate the selection process to have local artwork depicted in the store. Muralist Ruben Urrea Moreno was eventually commissioned to create the work. He has been a well-known artist and muralist for some time now in Tucson and Southern Arizona, and we at The Arts Foundation wish him many congratulations on being selected for our first private sector project!
“We’re seeing a trend right now with national companies incorporating regional artists and storytellers in their businesses,” said Arts Foundation executive director, Debi Chess Mabie. “It’s good to see our local artists on the wall, and to see our community’s stories expressed in our neighborhood places of business.”
Photo by The Arts Foundation Moreno’s in-progress mural at his home studio in Tucson.
Photo by The Arts Foundation Moreno with his nearly-finished mural at his home studio in Tucson.
Photo by The Arts Foundation Artist Ruben Moreno with The Arts Foundation’s Public Arts Manager, Jeff DaCosta
Photo by The Arts Foundation
Please see the official statements from artist Ruben Urrea Moreno below:
Artist statement on mural
“This mural depicts the rich history of Tucson and Pima County. Shown are representative figures from each of the groups that have made Tucson the historic, dynamic, diverse community that it is today. The shared history that each of these groups has in the region is a source of communal pride. The Kitt Peak observatory and San Xavier del Bac are iconic symbols of Tucson’s harmonious antiquity and modernity. These figures and icons frame the beautiful Sonoran Desert landscape that Tucsonans call home.”
Artist statement
“My artwork is rooted in personal experience and global politics, as well as the conviction that, as an artist, I have a responsibility to cast a light on both the beauty and cruelty of human existence on our planet. Tales of the growing global urban underclass, immigrants in conquered and banished lands, frontiers of scorched landscapes; these realities are undercurrent of my artistic drive, but the resilience and preservation of the human spirit, and its defense of mankind and the environment alike, are the true, everlasting fingerprint in the makeup of what I create.
I challenge the viewer to interact with the work on a social level, by questioning and spreading the ideas of their own interpretations.”
Be sure to visit the new Fry’s Food Store location and see Ruben Urrea Moreno’s mural in person at 1795 W. Valencia Road.
To learn more about private sector art opportunities, please contact Jeff DaCosta.
