Darius Steward
Study for “The Breaker of Chains”
2018

Name: Study for “The Breaker of Chains”
Brand: Darius Steward
Price: 2000 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Study for “The Breaker of Chains” Watercolor on Yupo paper, 2018 Signed with the artist's initials lower right (see photo) For the Midtown (Cleveland) Mural, located on 28th and Euclid Avenue Exhibited: Our Separated Selves, Canton Museum of Art, August 16-October 28, 2018 Occupying A Space, Swope Art Museum, January 18-March 3, 2019 Condition: excellent Archival framing with OP3 Acrylic Image/sheet size: 9 x 7 1/2 inches Frame size; 13 1/2 x 11 inches Note: This study is the original maquette for a portion of the artist’s 196 foot long mural. This watercolor was scanned, then commercially printed to mural size and installed May, 2018. This is the only original work by the hand of the artist for this important public art project, reviewed in the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper and Cleveland on line. On "Breaker of Chains" Steward was quoted, “The first thing my son did was grab the fence and a few other kids grabbed the fence.’ ‘My original plan got thrown out’ and I imagined ‘how these gates kind of hold us back or these things are alike, these obstacles we have to break down to get to a better place.’ ‘A whole bunch of things were happening with DACA at the same time. My understanding or my thought process on this was if I can somehow create this image that starts from one kid looking outside this gate to all these people gathering to help break these barriers down, to be a better community.’ ‘So it starts as one kid holding the fence and then you see multiple people from different races, different backgrounds, different age groups all kind of collecting and slowly that gate starts to disappear and eventually what you get is groups of people mingling and socializing together.’ ‘So the idea is bridging the gap, building a community where we all feel safer and can coexist. That’s what this image is about.’ Darius Steward Biography Darius Steward is establishing himself as a master of the medium of watercolor and large public murals. In 2018, Steward created two large public murals, “Breaker of Chains”, a 200’ by 6’ in height mural for the Midtown Cleveland/Cleveland State University and “Support” on Detroit Avenue in Cleveland. A new mural “Waiting Room” has been finished at SUMMA Health Care Tower, Akron, Ohio. Darius is currently working on a public sculpture commission for the Cleveland Public Library. Stewards works are in the permanent collection of Minneapolis Institute of Art, Davis Art Museum at Wellesley College, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cincinnati Art Museum, Flint Institute of Arts, Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art (Richmond), Eskenazi Museum of Art (Indiana University), Stanley Museum of Art (University of Iowa),Swope Art Museum (Terre Haute), University of Delaware Museum, Akron Art Museum, Canton Museum of Art, Art NEO, CARTA, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Summa Health Art Collection, Metro Health Hospital Collection, the Federal Reserve Bank, Cleveland, Art Collection, Rocket Loans Arena (Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA), the Thrivent Collection of Religious Art and most recently the Westmoreland Museum of American Art. In addition, Stewards works are in private collections from California to New York to Canada. Steward is the recipient of the The 2018 Emerging Artist Award of the Cleveland Arts Prize. A painting by Steward was chosen by Michele Grabner, Curator for the juried Front International Triennial, “The Great Lakes Research”, Cleveland Institute of Art, Reinberger Gallery, July 21st - August 4th, 2018 Stewards first solo museum exhibition, Our Separated Selves, closed in 2018 at the Canton Museum of Art. The artist’s second one person museum exhibition Occupying A Space, opened at the Swope Art Museum opened on January 18 and closed on March 3, 2019. This major exhibition was displayed in three galleries and exhibited 54 works on paper. Ms. Kaywin Feldman, then Director of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, wrote the following commentary regarding a donation of Darius’s work. “As you well know, Steward uses his extraordinary skill as a watercolorist to add interest and drama to quotidian life. His vivid colors and unusual, eye-catching compositions will make his work a compelling presence in the museum’s galleries. I am particularly excited that this is the first work by Steward to enter Mia’s collection.” Ms. Feldman assumed her new position as Director of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, on March 11, 2019. In 2021, Darius was commissioned to create a series of sculptures for the Cleveland Public Library Eastman Reading Garden in downtown Cleveland. This marks the artist’s first public sculpture project and a new direction for this creative output. “I often think of my kids when I think of progress. The idea of the future, of the possibility of something new happening, is what fascinates me about youth. I can see myself in them—I can see whole alternative ways of living.” DARIUS STEWARD, 2021

Creator:

Darius Steward (American)

Creation Year:

2018

Dimensions:

Height: 9 in (22.86 cm)Width: 7.5 in (19.05 cm)

Medium:

Watercolor

Movement & Style:

Contemporary

Period:

2010-