(PRINCETON, NJ) -- The Arts Council of Princeton (ACP) recently unveiled a new community mural in Downtown Princeton titled Somatic Pause. Designed and installed by artist Dave DiMarchi, this immersive, multi-media public art piece can be found on the side of Village Silver on Spring Street.

Fashioned after both the artist's workspace and print editions he created during his current ACP Anne Reeves Artist-in-Residency, Somatic Pause invites Princeton to contemplate the transformational power of rest, and how time changes each of us.

Somatic Pause - a wheat pasted, painted, and collaged installation - is an ephemeral one. Meant to change over time, the mural will be exposed to harsh winter weather, early spring rains, and glaring sun, each doing its own work to fade, soften, tear, and mar its surface. Change is the constant.

Dave DiMarchi is a queer, multi-disciplinary printmaker and artist working in printmaking, papermaking and sculptural book forms. He engages in a relentless material practice, nurturing ideas into singular and editioned works. As a multi-disciplinary artist, he has exhibited works on paper, installations and books in the US and internationally. He maintains a small collaborative studio and art space in New Hope, Pennsylvania and teaches printmaking, papermaking and book forms extensively throughout the New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania area. In Fall of 2022, he was chosen as the ACP Artist-in-Residence which will allow him to continue to explore collage-based multi-media and print works. 

This is the ACP’s eighth rotating mural on Spring Street. In July of 2020, when most of town was shut down due to COVID-19 regulations, the Arts Council team painted their first mural in this location, Stronger Together, as a message of support and solidarity. Since then, the rotating approach has allowed the ACP to showcase local artists, making Spring Street a new destination to enjoy colorful and thought-provoking public art. 

DiMarchi’s work will be on view on Spring Street until spring 2023, when a new mural will take its place.

The Arts Council of Princeton, a non-profit organization founded in 1967, fulfills its mission of building community through the arts by presenting a wide range of programs including public art projects, exhibitions, performances, free community cultural events, and studio-based classes and workshops. Arts Council of Princeton programs are designed to be high-quality, engaging, affordable and accessible for the diverse population in the greater Princeton region.