BENJAMIN HANVY // Colourflage
Public Murals & Spatial Design
Unifying complex multi-planar architectural elevations, historic corridors, and civic gateways through fluid, hard-edge biomorphic currents and structured community co-authorship.
St. Louis City Unbound: A City Blended (244–250-Foot Gateway Elevation)
ARPA for the Arts Commission • 1,415 Sq. Ft. Biomorphic Acrylic Mural • Ellendale Gateway (Ward 4)
★ CLICK ANY MURAL PERSPECTIVE BELOW TO VIEW LARGE ON STAGE: 5 Unobstructed High-Resolution Views
Public Murals & Signature “Colourflage”
Engineered across two simultaneous viewing distances: Macro Scale (bold chromatic currents establishing an unmistakable vehicular and transit landmark) and Micro Scale (intricate nested linework, neighborhood iconography, and structured paint-by-contour cells built for community participation).
“St. Louis City Unbound: A City Blended”
Spanning 244–250 linear feet (1,415 sq. ft.) along Southwest Avenue & McCausland Avenue (Ward 4), this gateway landmark welcomes travelers entering St. Louis City. Executed with UV-protected exterior mineral acrylics (Chroma Mural Paint & Golden Paintworks) over a masonry-primed concrete retaining wall, its 14 interlocking Colourflage color currents celebrate the city's 14 wards.
Community Paint Day Action (50 Local Volunteers)
Structured biomorphic cells allowed 50 local volunteers across Ellendale, Clifton Heights, and Maplewood to actively apply foundational base coats before multi-coat professional finishing, crisp contour lining, and UV sealing.
14-Ward Map & Volunteer Signatures
Micro-scale pedestrian storytelling: nested within the macro Colourflage currents is a color-coded map of St. Louis's 14 wards signed by every participating neighborhood volunteer.
Accessible Paint-by-Contour System
Designed for inclusive public participation: community members of all ages contribute directly to the artwork's foundation, adaptable to multi-event civic and institutional engagement sessions.
The Turbo Widget Micro Mural Gallery & National CaFÉ Feature
Whereas rigid pictorial scenes fracture when interrupted by corners, soffits, columns, and doorways, Colourflage ribbons operate as an unbroken spatial continuum—wrapping multi-surface elevations seamlessly.
“Robot girl in myco-Land” (The Turbo Widget Micro Mural Gallery • 2023–2026)
Wrapping the ground-floor vestibule, stairwell, transoms, and second-floor landing of an 1891 St. Louis building, this continuous installation demonstrates how biomorphic ribbons navigate doors, ceilings, and architectural trim without visual fragmentation. Co-created work “Robot girl in myco-Land” (with Kimberly Hanvy) integrates physical 3D yarn (fiber-optic/wire style) assemblage and 365nm UV-reactive pigments—selected by Creative West (CaFÉ) as their national public art landing banner and juried into the 2026 MUD Foundation International Showcase.
Note: Due to the historic narrow hallway geometry, on-site photography below captures detailed upstairs, mid-stairwell, UV blacklight, and downstairs perspectives without wide-angle fish-eye optical distortion.
“Spindles in the City” @ The City Museum
Invited by the Regional Arts Commission (RAC) and The City Museum to paint three of the museum's iconic turned architectural spindles in 360° cylindrical Colourflage relief • Permanent Plaque Installation.
“Colourflage in Transit” Municipal Container Mural
Created for the City of St. Louis Streets Department (Urban Beautification Project) to transform a 20-foot corrugated steel mobile municipal recycling container (20′ × 8′ × 8′ • 600 sq. ft.) with hard-wearing exterior enamels resilient to mechanical lifting and Midwest weather.
Architectural Elevation Walkthrough: The Turbo Widget Micro Mural Gallery (9 Perspectives)
Downstairs: 1891 Threshold & Typography
Gilded 1891 transom oval and vertical FAMOUS architectural typography framing the grayscale entry door and Colourflage wall.
Downstairs: Door A Cloudscape & Corridor
Undulating rainbow ribbons wrap the hallway walls and stair stringer, converging seamlessly into the painted sky-and-cloud portal of Door A.
Lower Transit: Laundry Room Mountain Portal
Graphic white polka-dot wayfinding arrow on a crimson pillar paired with an expressive pink-peak mountain landscape and chartreuse sky.
Stairwell: Station 2 Salon Archive Wall
Physical archive of the Turbo Widget continuum featuring original Colourflage canvases, macro floral photography, and public mural captures.
Stairwell: “Robot girl in myco-Land” (Day)
Co-created with Kimberly Hanvy: a cybernetic warrior with a physical 3D yarn (fiber-optic/wire style) ponytail meets an overscaled mushroom forest.
Stairwell: 365nm UV & 3D Yarn Relief
Dual-state optical engineering: physical 3D yarn strands (styled as glowing fiber-optic/wire cords) and UV-reactive pigments ignite under 365nm blacklight.
Upstairs: Pop Triptych & Tuxedo Cat
Second-floor summit uniting the cyan iris, crimson lips, formal bow-tie tuxedo cat over a shattered mosaic, and painted cloudscape ceiling.
Upstairs: All-Seeing Iris & Yellow Door
Radiant cyan iris set against deep violet and overhead ceiling ribbons, framing the bright yellow upstairs studio threshold.
Upstairs: Pop Surrealist Crimson Lips
High-gloss figurative rendering on the 2nd-floor landing, pairing graphic Pop Art energy with fluid chartreuse and violet contours.
The Archaic Flora Collection, Portraiture & Fine Art Photography
The Archaic Flora Collection translates Ben Hanvy's signature “Colourflage” biomorphic mural language into three-dimensional space, pairing precision 3D-printed thermoplastic vessels fabricated by The Near Wild with hand-patinated mineral acrylics, burnished mahogany/bronze chiaroscuro, interference and metallic mica, and living botanicals (Pieces No. 01–04 donated to benefit The Cat Shelter).
Bio-Mechanical Relic Planter I
3D-printed vessel (The Near Wild) hand-patinated by Ben Hanvy with carbon-black shadow ground, mahogany and warm amber chiaroscuro drybrushing, and metallic gold mica ($550 FMV; donated to The Cat Shelter).
Bioluminescent Spore Vessel
3D-printed vessel (The Near Wild) hand-patinated by Ben Hanvy with metallic midnight-indigo ground, emerald-jade mushroom caps, chartreuse gill chiaroscuro, and 365nm UV-reactive fluorescent crimson-orange spore nodes ($550 FMV; donated to The Cat Shelter).
Bio-Mechanical Relic Planter II: Iridescent Moss
3D-printed twisted root relief (The Near Wild) hand-patinated by Kimberly Hanvy over a carbon-black occlusion ground with polychromatic interference mica (emerald moss, amethyst violet, burnished gold, and electric cyan) ($550 FMV; donated to The Cat Shelter).
Variegated Foliage Relic Planter
3D-printed climbing foliage relief (The Near Wild) hand-painted by Kimberly Hanvy over a warm sandstone ground with multi-tier iridescent and metallic acrylic dispersions ($550 FMV; donated to The Cat Shelter).
Arboreal Mycelium Nurse-Log
3D-printed horizontal timber bridge (The Near Wild) hand-patinated by Ben Hanvy with carbon-black ground, warm bronze/amber wood-grain drybrushing, polychromatic iridescent mica, and sulfur-yellow accents (Retained in Ben Hanvy Studio Permanent Collection).
Portrait of Thom Lakey
16″ × 20″ acrylic on stretched canvas. Demonstrates nuanced figurative brushwork and psychological warmth—proving capacity to weave real community faces into civic murals.
“Her” (Calla Lily)
High-contrast botanical macro photography exploring sensual biomorphic curves and deep velvet shadows, reflecting the organic foundations of the studio's sculptural relief work.
“Ketchup and Mustard Rose”
Selected for the December 2024 juried gallery exhibition for the fine-art macro botanical photograph “Ketchup and Mustard Rose.”
Turbo Widget & Immersive 360° Media
Directed and staged in partnership with the Regional Arts Commission’s Immersive Foundry satellite office at City Foundry STL (Suite 149, 3745 Foundry Way), The Turbo Widget Immersive Experience: Resonance in 360° transformed a 2,400-square-foot industrial hall into a free, public multi-sensory environment uniting live musical performance, original audio mixing, and 360-degree multi-wall video projection mapping.
The Turbo Widget Immersive Experience: Resonance in 360° (2025)
Personal Art House & Geodesic Studio
Beyond two-dimensional wall surfaces, Benjamin Hanvy's practice encompasses complete physical space-making. In Morehouse, Missouri, Hanvy acquired this 31.2-foot (~800 sq. ft.) geodesic structure in 2023 and carried through the comprehensive interior buildout into a fully permitted, habitable residential art house and studio—complete with municipal approval, poured concrete slab, and dedicated 120V/240V electrical and plumbing systems.
Engineered architectural framework with heavy galvanized structural steel struts, poured concrete slab foundation, and precision hub joinery.
Enclosed with 3 inches of exterior closed-cell polyurethane spray foam over the shell, sealed with a continuous protective white elastomeric membrane.
Municipally approved residential infrastructure equipped with full plumbing, 120V/240V electrical service, custom timber loft, and studio facilities.
Interior View 01 • Colourflage Core & Loft
Custom-framed interior residential core integrating signature Colourflage mural walls, structural timber loft framing, and custom woodwork.
Interior View 02 • Geodesic Canopy & Kitchen
Multi-tiered interior space uniting custom cabinetry, ambient LED architectural uplighting across the geodesic shell, and functional studio living.
About Benjamin Hanvy
Benjamin Hanvy is a St. Louis-based multidisciplinary muralist and public artist with over 15 years of experience designing and executing large-scale exterior public murals, multi-surface interior architectural installations, 360-degree immersive multimedia environments, and hand-patinated sculptural reliefs. Benjamin and his wife, Kimberly Hanvy, work together as the creative team Turbo Widget, collaborating across public murals, immersive media, micro-mural galleries, and studio productions.
Creator of the signature “Colourflage” aesthetic—a fluid, hard-edge biomorphic visual system engineered to unify complex architectural elevations while enabling structured, accessible community paint-day participation.
In 2024, as one of 28 competitive grant recipients citywide of the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis (RAC) ARPA for the Arts Grant ($31,110.00), Hanvy designed and executed “St. Louis City Unbound: A City Blended”—a 244–250-foot, 1,415-square-foot gateway mural at Southwest Ave. & McCausland Ave. (Ward 4) that engaged 50 local volunteers across the Ellendale, Clifton Heights, and Maplewood neighborhoods. In 2026, Creative West (formerly WESTAF) selected the co-created architectural mural “Robot girl in myco-Land” (by Benjamin Hanvy and Kimberly Hanvy, part of The Turbo Widget Micro Mural Gallery, 2023–2026) as the flagship hero banner on the official CaFÉ Public Art Calls portal, and juried the work into the international 3D/XR exhibition “Space Is Weird, So Are We” curated in partnership with the MUD Foundation.
Alongside co-founding the multidisciplinary music and visual duo Turbo Widget (staging the 2,400 sq. ft. Resonance in 360° installation uniting live musical performance, original audio mixing, and 360-degree multi-wall video projection mapping at City Foundry STL, and releasing the 12-part 2019 Song-a-Month series syndicated internationally on HBS Glasgow Folkal Point and W4CY/iHeartRadio), Ben and Kimberly Hanvy hand-paint and patinate The Archaic Flora Collection over precision 3D-printed thermoplastic vessels fabricated by startup The Near Wild—using chiaroscuro mineral acrylics, polychromatic interference mica, and 365nm UV-reactive pigments to benefit The Cat Shelter.
Multidisciplinary Muralist & Public Artist | Co-Founder, Turbo Widget (with Kimberly Hanvy)
Selected Press & Institutional Recognition
- CaFÉ / Creative West (2026): National Public Art Portal Hero Feature — callforentry.org/public-art
- MUD Foundation & Creative West (2026): International 3D/XR Showcase “Space Is Weird, So Are We” — verse.mud.foundation/7AhPEBn/
- St. Louis Magazine (2024): Featured News Profile by Ryan Krull — “New mural beckons motorists driving into St. Louis City”
- STL Arts / RAC (2024): Official Permanent Public Art Catalog Feature — STLMP: Benjamin Hanvy — St. Louis City Unbound: A City Blended
- The City Museum (2025): Permanent Invited Spindle Exhibition with Artist Plaque (Spindles in the City • RAC & The City Museum)
- Soulard Art Gallery (12/2024): Juried Exhibition Selection (“Ketchup and Mustard Rose”)
- VoyageSTL Magazine (2024): Featured Artist Profile (“Inspiring Stories” Series) — Meet Ben Hanvy of South St. Louis
- Riverfront Times (2019): Featured Music & Visual Profile — “Turbo Widget Eschews Traditional Album Release for a Song-Per-Month Approach”