Kelly Towles is a Washington, D.C.-based artist, designer, and curator whose practice spans large-scale public murals, studio objects, and cultural programming. Born in Ohio and raised in Alice Springs, Australia, his early visual influences included animation, comic imagery, and broadcast-era pop aesthetics. That foundation shaped a body of work defined by bold character work, graphic patterning, and a visual language that sits at the intersection of street culture, design, and contemporary storytelling.
Towles works across formats with consistency. His murals appear on exterior walls in cities including Tokyo, Taipei, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Austin, and Washington, D.C. In the studio, he has developed engraved tile and other surface-driven work that treats texture, line, and finish as narrative tools.
His client and collaborator list reflects the range of his practice. Apple, NASA, NPR, the Human Rights Campaign, Red Bull, Heineken, Jameson, The Phillips Collection, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and Tishman Speyer are among those who have commissioned or presented his work. Additional collaborators include D.C. United, DC Brau Brewing Company, Twelve Snowboards, Ginkgo Bioworks, and Dolcezza, among others.
Towles also serves as Director and Curator of D.C. Walls Mural Festival, a platform dedicated to bringing artists and communities together through public art experiences across Washington, D.C.
kellytowles.com | @kellytowles | @dcwallsfestival
Kelly Towles has painted murals in Tokyo, Taipei, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Austin, and Washington, D.C., while continuing to develop studio work, engraved tile, and cultural collaborations.