THE STUDIO
Aster Muro is the studio of British contemporary painter, Charles Snell, whose work expands the language of the historic fresco tradition. A collaborative artistic practice co-founded by Charles and Lianne Snell in 2017, Aster Muro integrates fine art into architectural spaces, working exclusively in plaster. Each site-specific fresco installation and panel painting captures the dynamic between human emotion and multi-layered place narratives and is characterised by pure abstraction, layered narrative, a sense of depth, and sensitivity to colour.
Established in 2017, Aster Muro grew from Charles’ ongoing curiosity about the artistic possibilities of working with pigmented plaster and the potential scales at which it could be worked with. The studio’s first premises was a former Victorian grocer’s shop in the Malvern Hills, followed by a barn in The Wye Valley, before Charles and Lianne moved to Abergavenny in 2020 and set up studio a stone’s throw from their home. It is here that Aster Muro’s fresco panels are now created and where maquettes for murals and large-scale projects come to life.
In 2020, Charles painted the largest contemporary fresco in the UK in MediaCityUK, Manchester. Recent commissions include private high-end residential projects, a two-part curved fresco mural for Arup, a global built environment consultancy, in Bristol; a coffered ceiling fresco in the private dining room for San Carlo’s Cicchetti restaurant in Piccadilly, London; and a fresco mural and teaching workshops for co-living innovators POHA House, in Aachen, Germany.
Charles and the studio’s work has been featured in Wallpaper, Design Week, Country Life, Times Property, and international art, design and interiors publications.
Aster Muro’s uplifting and immersive works of art speak of place and people. They look to push boundaries, connect individuals and communities, and create wellbeing through their innovation on the art form of fresco. They explore how people relate to colour, interior spaces and architecture, and encourage people to be present and experience moments of truth and connection. Aster Muro’s ethos is to bring light and positivity into everything they do, whether it is a single panel or a hundred square metres of wall space.
Each fresco has a story to tell with seams of memory and meaning. It is unique, and conveys layers of internal, universal, architectural and contextual narratives. Every fresco is the combined result of extensive thought, dialogue, detailed research, inspiration gathering, conceptual refinement, colour curation, studio practice; and energetic, passionate and performative creation. Charles uses sensitively pigmented lime and marble plasters, specialist hand tools, and modern dispersal techniques to create his paintings. The studio works closely with private clients, interior designers, architects, developers, brands and galleries to develop each vision.
Aster Muro incorporates its cross-disciplinary experience in fine art, painting, printmaking, design, craft, and literature, into each fresco, and always strives to explore and innovate. Charles has a fine art background and studied at Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London, whilst Lianne read English at the University of Oxford. Their creative partnership developed as design and creative team, Talbot & Ashlie, and evolved into Aster Muro over a decade of working together creatively.