Public Art to Brighten L’Enfant Plaza

Three murals will be completed in L’Enfant Plaza this week, following the $46 million makeover the complex received earlier this year.

Three international artists are painting murals in and around L’Enfant Plaza. This art is part of a larger project of 20 murals by Chevy Chase-based JBG Companies, which owns the complex in Southwest.

Munich-based artist Rafael Gerlach  (also known as SatOne) is painting an abstract orange, red, white and blue mural on a loading dock wall. He hopes to create contrasts between his mural and the “grays, beiges and blues of concrete,” his artist’s statement says.

James Reka, an Australian artist who lives in Berlin, is painting a wall along the the L’Enfant Plaza Metro Terrace next to Starbucks. Reka is known for painting surrealist, abstract creatures. And Polish artist Nawer is painting an interior wall in the L’Enfant Plaza dining area.

JBG Companies is funding the murals as part of a “place-making initiative” to foster the identity of neighborhoods. The project is curated by the National Harbor art gallery Art Whino.

The murals will be up for the “long term,” a JBG Companies representative said.

Photos courtesy of JBG Companies