High Notes at MASS MoCA

Detail from "Hello America"
Detail from "Hello America"

An acrylic mural by Joe Wardwell, associate professor of painting, is making a sizable splash at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art’s new B6 wing. Titled “Hello America: 40 Hits From the 50 States,” the mural, which measures 146 feet by 14 feet, combines lyrics from a Mission of Burma song in large block letters; a silhouetted New England tree line; and, at a smaller scale, quotes from Chuck D, Anne Sexton, Hunter S. Thompson, Abraham Lincoln and other American notables. The mural will be on display at MASS MoCA for at least two years. “It’s an incredible honor to be included in such great company,” Wardwell says.