ABOUT
Aster Muro is a collaborative artistic practice founded by Charles and Lianne Snell. A British studio painting contemporary abstract fresco murals and panel paintings in plaster; creating place narratives and internal landscapes.
Established in 2017, following several years of research and development, Aster Muro was the result of 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 the wilds of Brecon Beacons in 2020, with their five children, 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, Aster Muro painted the largest contemporary fresco in the UK in MediaCityUK, Manchester. Recent commissions include 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. Aster Muro’s work has been featured in Wallpaper, Design Week, Country Life, Times Property, and international 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. Seams of memory and meaning. It is unique, and conveys layers of internal, universal, architectural and contextual narratives. A fresco is the combined result of extensive thought, dialogue, detailed research, inspiration gathering, conceptual refinement, studio practice; and energetic, passionate and performative creation. Aster Muro uses sensitively pigmented lime and marble plasters, specialist hand tools, and new spray technology to craft its artwork. The studio works closely with private clients, interior designers, architects, developers, brands and galleries to realise each vision.
Aster Muro incorporates its cross-disciplinary experience in fine art, painting, printmaking, design, craft, industrial art and decorative art into each fresco, and always strives to explore and innovate. Charles studied Design Communication at the University of the Arts London (Chelsea) whilst Lianne read English at the University of Oxford. Their creative partnership developed as design and creative team, Talbot & Ashlie, and Charles has worked as a craftsman plasterer since 2015. Charles is the primary painter of the frescoes and Lianne undertakes research, narrative and colour palette development but their working relationship is fluid, reciprocal, and collaborative.
FIND OUT more about Charles’ artistic journey, practice and influences HERE.
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