Bio

Jhonattan Arango (born in Camagüey, Cuba) grew up fully immersed in the arts before immigrating to the United States at the age of 13. His artform is a conceptualization of key personal experiences, to include growing up in Cuba, serving as a medic in the U.S. Navy, and later taking on a mindfulness practice. With a meticulous eye for detail and a steady hand, he enjoys using art to incite dialogue around the subject of interconnection, natural order, and self-accountability as a bridge to a harmonious life. Jhon holds a BFA in graphic design, has an affinity for hand-lettering, and loves to create public murals with community involvement. His studio work has been featured in a number of shows and gallery exhibitions in South Florida, to include Miami Art Basel and Aqua Art Miami.

Samantha Arango (born in Brunswick, New Jersey) holds a BFA in graphic design and has always been drawn towards the arts. She has over fifteen years of experience in branding and design, and before settling into a freelancing career she designed for companies like PGA of America. Samantha has a keen ability to see the big picture and brings both vision and branding expertise into any creative undertaking. She loves the research and learning that accompanies any new idea or project. Along very similar lines, Samantha is a macrobiotic health counselor with a passion for food as medicine. Her message is one of peace and compassion, and uses visual communication as a tool to build awareness, bridge gaps, and contribute to global healing.

Artist statement

Jhonattan and Samantha Arango, known as Anón, are a South Florida-based husband and wife artist team who make geometric murals and studio arts. With a focus on portraiture and flora/fauna, they primarily use triangles to make highly organic, three-dimensional compositions. Their work is an exploration into the subject of interconnection and rudimentarily mimics the function of triangles as the most fundamental fabric of reality. With often thousands of triangles to tell the story, their process emphasizes how each piece, regardless of color and size, is an integral part of the whole.

The couple approaches mural-making as intentional branding projects that communicate uplifting messages and create public—as well as personal—landmarks. Besides making solo murals, they work with a community format that allows for audiences to paint murals together. Through this exploration they have facilitated projects where hundreds of spectators become the artists through a process that brings the work closer to the community it serves. Both Jhonattan and Samantha hold BFAs in graphic design and have over twelve years of branding experience.

Their body of work includes over 30 murals throughout the United States, most of which are city-sponsored placemaking projects. 2022 saw them create murals in Texas, Colorado, Montana, Utah, and two sequential murals in Ohio —three of which included a community component in which hundreds of people participated in their creation. Past work includes a mural in Cape Canaveral to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, as well as various murals commissioned by entities such as Art in Public Places, Main Streets, Business Improvement Districts, etc. Their work was recently selected for WESTAF’s Public Art Archive’s decadal “Have You Seen My Public Art” map, and has been featured in Forbes’ “5 Reasons Palm Beach is a Cultural Destination.” In addition to murals, their studio work has been shown in galleries and art fairs such as Miami Art Basel and Aqua Art Miami. When not traveling around the States they call West Palm Beach home, where they live with their son Sagan happily pursuing a life of art-making.