Muralist Christian Kanienberg, who is responsible for large public art installations all over Delaware and the surrounding area, prefers to let his work speak for itself.
“I tend to work really quickly so I enjoy getting in there, getting it done and getting out before really being seen doing it,” Kanienberg said. “I kind of like being the little elf that delivers when nobody's watching.”
This week, the “little elf” delivered yet another eye-catching mural in the heart of Newark – this one on the side of the Simon Eye building at Newark Shopping Center.
Kanienberg started the project at the beginning of July and, after some delays due to rain and excessive heat, completed it on Monday. It was commissioned by the owner of Newark Shopping Center in conjunction with the University of Delaware.
The idea started as a mural celebrating UD sports but morphed into a broader concept paying homage to the Delaware, Newark and UD.
The focal point is a large blue hen – the actual bird, not the cartoon mascot – which Kanienberg expects to draw a lot of attention from people who want to take selfies in front of it.
“How cool would it be to be able to take your picture next to a larger-than-life blue hen?” he said.
Titled "Newark Bounty," the mural also includes images of two UD athletes, a football player and a women's basketball player, though they are not meant to depict any particular player.
“It was important to have minority representation and some diversity and a current observation of gender in athletics,” Kanienberg noted.
Also included in the mural is the word Newark, the 302 area code and peach blossoms, which are Delaware's state flower. Sharp-eyed viewers will notice a subtle nod to the Stone Balloon – the legendary bar's hot air balloon logo floating near the top of the mural.
Kanienberg says he sees the painting as “an ID mural for the City of Newark.”
“It's a little tongue-in-cheek, not taking itself too seriously, but it's still representative of the town and the state,” he said.
Based in Bellefonte, Kanienberg does all sorts of art projects, including sculptures and custom carpentry, but his specialty is large-scale murals. Two decades ago, he had a job painting large theater scenery, which he said was a “gateway drug” to painting murals.
His first public mural was at Junior Achievement of Delaware on North Walnut Street in Wilmington. Now, his work appears larger-than-life on buildings up and down the East Coast.
He's done two previous murals here in Newark: the train bridge on Library Avenue and the Delaware Avenue S-curve, the latter of which was removed during a recent road construction project.
“Murals are huge right now,” he said. “I think COVID actually slingshotted public art into the mainstream. For several years, all we wanted to do is be outside. We couldn't go to movie theaters and we couldn't go to concerts.”
People were craving artistry, and murals became a popular avenue, he added.
The idea for a mural starts on paper and then gets scaled up.
“I absolutely love successfully transferring really great ideas on paper onto supersized surfaces,” Kanienberg said. “A lot of your average viewers don't realize there's truly a knack to keeping things proportioned in a large scale.”
A particular challenge with buildings like the one at Newark Shopping Center is figuring out how to work around doors and windows.
“Where can you crop things out, but they still make sense?” Kanienberg explained. “Your eye and your brain just fills in the rest and you don't even really consider otherwise.”
A mural like the one he just completed in Newark can serve multiple purposes, he said. From a business standpoint, it's good marketing for the shopping center. It can also be a wayfinding point for people visiting Main Street, i.e. “Meet me at the giant blue hen.” Above all, though, he hopes it inspires Newarkers.
“Emotionally, it serves as a point of pride for a community,” he said.
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