The CHAMELEON Art Exhibition was scheduled to run from August 12 to August 27, 2023, at The Story Factory, a new creative venue in Philadelphia’s art scene. Presented by Avec Art Consulting and The Story Factory, the show paired the work of artist Alloyius Mcilwaine with more than 30 contemporary artists from across the globe.
CHAMELEON Art Exhibition and the Idea Behind It
Mcilwaine had a dream of creating a collaboration show, and the exhibition came together through his network of artist friends and colleagues worldwide. The group worked across sculpture, painting, printmaking, drawing and mosaic glass, and the artists came from different styles, ages and cultural backgrounds. The announcement named positivity, light and unity as the common ground.
Mcilwaine is a Philadelphia-born artist who blends street art, pop art and comic book illustration. His murals and canvases use symbolic forms he calls “kudoglyphs,” which carry positive affirmations in a visual language, and his work moves between figuration and abstraction. The announcement singled out his expressive use of color and geometric patterns, and he also made works of his own for the show.
That visual language is already on Philadelphia walls. Mural Arts Philadelphia lists his 2024 mural We Got the Jazz at 6330 Germantown Avenue in Mount Airy, which it says honors the neighborhood’s musical heritage and his family of musicians. The same page says the mural uses abstract symbols that convey promise, hope and affirmation, the kudoglyph idea at street scale.
The mural is part of the Mount Airy Walls series, and Mural Arts says it also works train tracks and cobblestones from the neighborhood into the design.
CHAMELEON Art Exhibition Producers and the Venue
Avec Art Consulting, led by Kim Pepper, produced the exhibition. The announcement described Pepper as a curator who connects artists, collectors, interior designers and businesses, and the CHAMELEON Art Exhibition gave that network a single room to work in, with more than 30 artists under one roof for a little over two weeks.
The Story Factory was founded in 2022 by Ashlee and Elijah Hollis of Helm Creative Studio, and at the time of the show it described itself as a creative hub wrapped in mural art. Its website now lists more than 12,000 square feet of creative workspace, plus recording studios, photo and video studios and a sound stage, so the building was already built for work that crosses mediums.
The facility also runs community programs, including a Back to School Bash, Fill the Table at Thanksgiving, Giving Christmas and a Teachers Appreciation Dinner.
More recently, The Story Factory announced that the Pennsylvania Film Office has named it a Qualified Production Facility. The facility says the August 2026 designation applies to its building at 1600 N. 5th Street and means productions that meet the state’s requirements there can be eligible for a larger film tax credit.
CHAMELEON Art Exhibition Opening Reception Details
The opening reception was set for Saturday, August 12, from 6 to 9 PM, with Mcilwaine, Avec Art Consulting and friends on hand. Tickets for the evening ran through Eventbrite, and the exhibition itself stayed on the calendar through August 27, giving visitors a run of just over two weeks to see the CHAMELEON Art Exhibition at the venue.
A collaboration show asks a question a solo show can skip: what happens to one artist’s vocabulary when thirty others answer it. Mcilwaine’s kudoglyphs are built to carry affirmations without translation, and hanging them beside sculpture, printmaking and mosaic glass tested whether that language travels. The Story Factory has since moved from art shows to state-recognized film infrastructure, and this show reads as an early sign of what the building wanted to be.
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