Annual Mural Project in collaboration with the Patchogue – Medford Library
Comunicando a Través del Amor, 2026
Communicating Through Love, 2026
Rafael Algarín
Comunicando a Través del Amor vibra con energía, anclada en una serie de expresivos gestos manuales que deletrean “Te Amo” en Lenguaje de Señas Americano. Cada gesto fluye hacia el siguiente con un sentido de movimiento e intención, convirtiendo el mensaje en algo a la vez íntimo y universal.
El fondo se despliega en una explosión de colores vivos y arremolinados tonos saturados que irradian positividad y atraen la mirada hacia adentro. Entretejidas a lo largo de la composición aparecen delicadas ásteres de Nueva Inglaterra, cuyos suaves pétalos ofrecen un contrapunto a la audacia del diseño, enraizando la composición en el mundo natural. La interacción entre el color vibrante y el detalle floral sereno crea una tensión visual que se resuelve en armonía una expresión acertada del tema más profundo del mural.
Comunicando a Través del Amor es, en última instancia, una celebración: de la conexión a través de la diferencia, del lenguaje hecho visible, y del acto simple y radical de decirle te amo a la comunidad.
La obra de Algarín explora la energía, el movimiento y la esencia humana a través de una expresiva cadencia visual de líneas y formas superpuestas. Inspirándose en el pulso de Santurce y la diáspora caribeña, fusiona elementos figurativos y abstractos para revelar las fuerzas invisibles que conectan a los individuos con su entorno. Cada pintura y mural es una meditación sobre la presencia: un intento de plasmar las historias, las vibraciones y las raíces arraigadas en un lugar determinado.
Influenciado por la poesía cruda de la calle y la disciplina formal de las bellas artes, su proceso equilibra la intuición con la intención. Los rituales comunitarios, la cultura musical, la memoria ancestral y el paisaje urbano nutren sus composiciones. Ya sea pintando en vivo sobre el escenario con músicos como Calle 13 o creando campos texturizados en la escena artística underground de Berlín, el objetivo de Algarín es constante: traducir el sentimiento en forma y despertar la conexión a través del color, el ritmo y la línea. Para él, el arte es un diálogo transfronterizo visual, emocional y cultural que abre portales entre personas, lenguas y tiempos.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Communication Through Love pulses with energy, anchored by a series of expressive hand signs spelling “I Love You” in American Sign Language. Each gesture flows into the next with a sense of movement and intention, rendering the message at once intimate and universal.
The background unfolds in a sweep of vivid, swirling color, saturated hues that radiate positivity and draw the eye inward. Woven throughout are delicate New England asters, their soft petals offering a counterpoint to the boldness of the design, grounding the composition in the natural world. The interplay between vibrant color and quiet floral detail creates a visual tension that resolves into harmony, a fitting expression of the mural’s deeper theme.
Communication Through Love is ultimately a celebration: of connection across difference, of language made visible, and of the simple, radical act of saying I love you to the community.
Algarín’s work explores energy, movement, and human essence through an expressive visual cadence of lines and layered forms. Drawing from the pulse of Santurce and the broader Caribbean diaspora, he blends figurative and abstract elements to reveal the invisible forces that connect individuals to their environments. Each painting and mural is a meditation on presence, an attempt to register the stories, vibrations, and roots embedded in a given place.
Influenced by the raw poetry of the street and the formal discipline of fine art, his process balances intuition with intention. Community rituals, music culture, ancestral memory, and the urban landscape all inform his compositions. Whether painting live on stage with musicians like Calle 13 or building textured fields in Berlin’s underground art scene, Algarín’s aim is
constant: to translate feeling into form and awaken connection through color, rhythm, and line. For him, art is a cross-border dialogue—visual, emotional, and cultural opening portals
between people, languages, and time.
Patchogue’s Outside the Box Art Wrap Project
ON VIEW PERMANENTLY THROUGHOUT PATCHOGUE VILLAGE
Initiated in 2024, Patchogue’s Outside the Box transforms six utility cabinets along throughout the downtown into site-responsive artworks that celebrate the Village’s layered histories and contemporary life. Long championed by Mayor Paul Pontieri, the project has now been realized in the public realm, offering daily encounters with art—literally outside the box.
Supported by the Village of Patchogue, with the guidence of the Patchogue Arts Council • MoCA L.I. ,serving as facilitator and visual arts consultant, the initiative invited artists to respond to Patchogue’s past and present through original designs in traditional or digital media. Six artists were selected through an open call to create compositions that interpret archival imagery, maritime and industrial heritage, and everyday scenes, which were then fabricated as durable wraps for installation on five Main Street utility boxes.
The result is a walkable gallery that honors place, sparks curiosity, and underscores Patchogue’s ongoing commitment to public art and cultural vitality. Special thanks to SoundBeach Designs for their fabrication expertise and installation of the final art wraps.
LOCATION | Rider Avenue and East Main Street, Patchogue
Patchogue: Connecting Past and Present | Sage Cotignola
Bio
Sage Cotignola is an illustrator and muralist from Long Island’s East End. Cotignola’s intricate gouache paintings weave narrative scenes of folkloric beings, surreal botanicals, and nature’s cyclical harmonies. Beyond the studio, Cotignola designs and paints community-centered murals across Long Island and New York City that convey a strong sense of place and celebrate local ecologies and people.
Artist Statement
Drawing on historical resources from the Patchogue-Medford Library, this design maps key currents in Patchogue’s story. The flowing water motif nods to the Algonquin meaning of “Patchogue”—often translated as “a turning place” or “where two streams separate.” The central panel gathers regional flora and fauna and honors the Great South Bay’s shellfish bounty. The right panel references the arrival of the LIRR and the village’s lace and textile industries; the left foregrounds shipbuilding and the enduring relationship to the bay. An early light bulb at the lower left acknowledges Patchogue’s early embrace of electricity and its long role as a cultural hub for thinkers, writers, and artists.
LOCATION | Maple Avenue and East Main Street, Patchogue
A Space for the Arts | Sam Caylor
Bio
Trained in both traditional and digital media, Sam Caylor has created work for clients and collectors since earning a BFA from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2009. Her practice spans graphic design, illustration, and commissioned portraiture, with projects for small businesses across the United States and merchandise designs that have even toured internationally. In recent years, Caylor has shifted focus to independent studio work—drawing and painting—to develop a personal visual language. She experiments with varied mark-making tools and processes, from brushes and palette knives to sponges and found materials, and has exhibited across Long Island.
Artist Statement
Caylor’s contribution celebrates Patchogue’s arts community—its galleries, music, writing, and inclusive spirit—by capturing a candid scene of creatives gathered for Arts on Terry, a contemporary chapter of local history. Combining pen-and-ink drawing with a newsprint sensibility and digital compositing, and referencing archival images alongside contemporary social media, she created A Space for the Arts as a layered snapshot of culture in motion.
LOCATION | The Four Corners – Main Street, South Ocean Avenue and North Ocean Avenue, Patchogue
Samantha O’Leary
Bio
Samantha O’Leary is a Long Island–based artist and designer whose background in interior design and construction informs a multidisciplinary practice spanning watercolor, colored pencil, marker, and digital design. Guided by vivid palettes and a search for clarity and calm, O’Leary translates observations of daily life into approachable, polished visuals.
Artist Statement
O’Leary’s work reflects a sustained engagement with Patchogue’s blend of history and contemporary energy. After several years in neighboring Bellport, she was drawn to Patchogue’s maritime heritage—oystering, clamming, shipbuilding, and lumber—as well as its present-day vibrancy. These pieces reframe that heritage through a contemporary lens, intended to enliven public space while encouraging deeper exploration of local roots in an age defined by speed and technology.
LOCATION | Railroad Avenue and West Main Street, Patchogue
Joseph Scinto
Bio
Joseph Scinto is a new media illustrator, public artist, and graphic designer who has taught art at Bay Shore High School (Bay Shore, NY) since 1999. A Long Island native with a long-standing studio in Bayport, Scinto integrates traditional techniques with advanced digital tools to develop a distinctive “new media” vocabulary.
Artist Statement
Scinto creates site-responsive works that resonate with their surroundings. Architectural subjects—often historic buildings—are rendered in a trompe-l’œil style, then fabricated as vinyl wraps for nearby traffic utility boxes. Other projects spotlight regional flora and fauna to spark curiosity and convey the richness of local ecosystems. Across formats, his aim is to engage viewers visually while guiding them toward discovery—leaving them with knowledge or perspectives they might not have encountered otherwise.
LOCATION | Oak Street and North Ocean Avenue, Patchogue
Steven “Solty” Soltysik (Solty Design)
Bio
Steven “Solty” Soltysik is a Long Island–born illustrator whose practice is shaped by linocut-inspired graphics. His portfolio includes packaging, murals, and spot illustrations for print.
Artist Statement
Soltysik composes surreal, emblematic images in which antique and vintage objects act as vessels for contemporary themes. By recontextualizing artifacts from the past, he opens imaginative portals to the present.
LOCATION | West Avenue and West Main Street, Patchogue
The Lace Mill | Leonardo the Fabulous
Bio
Leonardo the Fabulous began in fine art photography as a teenager, mastering black-and-white capture, development, and printing before studying film and television at the School of Visual Arts. After several years working in Hollywood, he returned to Long Island, where his practice expanded from photography to painting, sculpture, and, more recently, laser cutting/etching and LED-based works. His pointillist paintings and mixed-media pieces have been exhibited across Long Island and collected nationally. Publications include Parade magazine and regional newspapers; his work has been presented at venues such as Bergdorf Goodman, the NBA Hall of Fame, the John & Alice Coltrane Home, and the Long Island Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony, and is held in private collections including Herb Alpert, President William J. Clinton, Jimmy Fallon, and Ringo Starr.
Artist Statement
Leonardo’s relationship with Patchogue began in childhood and deepened in the 1990s through a fascination with local history. He documented the Lace Mill’s final days and the theatre’s renovation as an official photographer; images from those projects have appeared on village benches and in Main Street businesses. This installation extends that dialogue with place, bringing his practice back to the streets where it first found a public audience.
Please help us continue to provide free programming and artist resources like the above!
