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. His sensibility is equal parts cinematic and human, translating seamlessly from exterior walls to intimate collectible works.
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, expanding his material approach well beyond traditional paint and wall surfaces. The result is a practice that moves fluidly between public-facing work and refined studio output.
His client and collaborator list reflects the full range of that 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, Haikan, Natty Wine, and Dolcezza, among others. His work is collected and commissioned by organizations and private clients seeking projects that are visually iconic, thoughtfully executed, and culturally resonant.
Towles also serves as Director and Curator of D.C. Walls Mural Festival, a platform dedicated to bringing artists and communities together through ambitious public art experiences. The festival connects local residents and neighborhoods with artists from across the country, making public art accessible to the communities that live and work within it. Through the festival and his independent practice, Towles has developed exhibitions and collaborations that connect public-facing work with refined studio output, building a body of work that operates at multiple scales simultaneously.
In the studio, Towles has expanded his material approach well beyond paint and wall surfaces. Engraved tile has become one of the primary formats through which he explores surface, craft, and material experimentation. These works are intimate and collectible, designed to be examined closely rather than viewed from a distance. Where his murals operate at the scale of buildings and city streets, his studio objects bring the same precise visual language into a more personal and tactile format. Texture, line, and finish serve as narrative tools, carrying character-driven imagery and graphic symbolism into a format built for close observation and private collection.
That visual language has its roots in a childhood shaped by two very different cultures. Born in Ohio and raised in Alice Springs, Australia, Towles developed an early visual vocabulary drawn from animation, comic imagery, and broadcast-era pop aesthetics. Those cross-cultural influences remain visible throughout his work today. The bold character work that anchors his large-scale murals, the graphic patterning that structures his compositions, and the playful tension embedded in his visual language all trace back to that formative cross-cultural experience. His practice is described as both accessible and concept-driven, a combination that has allowed him to work simultaneously with major cultural institutions, global brands, and private collectors.
His work sits at the intersection of street culture, design, and contemporary storytelling. That positioning has allowed him to move between exterior walls and gallery exhibitions, between large-scale public commissions and refined collectible studio objects, and between his own independent creative practice and the broader cultural programming he leads through D.C. Walls Mural Festival. Towles continues to develop new exhibitions and collaborations that bridge his public-facing work with his studio practice.
Towles is based in Washington, D.C. and is available for commissions and travel. His work is collected by organizations and private clients seeking projects that are visually distinctive, thoughtfully executed, and culturally grounded. Inquiries can be directed to info@kellytowles.com.
kellytowles.com | @kellytowles | @dcwallsfestiva
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.