2025 FESTIVAL:
MARCH 20 – APRIL 13

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The Message

By Andrew Funk

Features lyrics from two songs – Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” and “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash. The artwork and messaging on the piece invite viewers to reflect on social consciousness through the universal language of music.

Throughout the 2021 Festival, this sculpture was located at the Turkey Thicket Recreation Center, 1100 Michigan Avenue NE. This sculpture is now located at a private residence in Arlington, VA.

Andrew Funk

Alexandria, VA

My style of art developed from seeing graffiti as a little kid in NYC, and then not long after we moved to DC, when I would take the Metro I would see all the walls that were painted on the Redline. The colors and motion of the art while riding a train fascinated me. After having an amazing art history teacher in college, I also fell in love with the Baroque and Impressionist movements. I try to capture those styles together with a mix of 70s rock and roll posters. I have done a lot of work in DC with Tom Pipkin and Ian Callendar for Blind Whino. I painted multiple murals for the ultra-popular Pop Up bar in DC’s Shaw neighborhood, including the Game of Thrones and Cherry Blossom Bars. I did all the new murals for the interior of 3 Stars Brewing Company and had the honor of assisting in the restoration of the infamous Marilyn Monroe mural on Calvert St in Woodley Park. Most recently I started a volunteer mural program in Baltimore where we offer businesses paintings for free and have the neighborhood kids get involved — we show them how to paint and beautify places that are neglected and need some color and love. For this year’s Cherry Blossom public art exhibition, I got to paint two of the 3D blossom sculptures. One was displayed at downtown’s CityCenter and the other at Turkey Thicket Recreation Center in DC’s Brookland neighborhood.