Fine Art
Paintings, Exhibitions & the Stories of Home
Alongside his mural and public art practice, Banks Compton creates paintings exploring landscape, memory, nature, Southern culture, and a sense of place.
A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Banks works primarily in oil paint and oil pastel, creating colorful figurative and landscape-based work that moves between personal experience and the larger stories of the American South.
His fine art has been presented in solo and group exhibitions throughout the Southeast.
52nd Annual Bi-State Competition & Exhibition
Meridian Museum of Art | Meridian, Mississippi | 2026
Banks was selected to participate in the Meridian Museum of Art's annual juried Bi-State exhibition, bringing together contemporary artists from Alabama and Mississippi.
Selected Exhibitions
Southern Spirits: Capturing the Essence of Home
Eastern Shore Art Center | Fairhope, Alabama | 2024
Southern Spirits followed Banks' autobiographical journey of finding home through paintings and drawings, exploring a disrupted transition into adulthood and his eventual return to his roots in Alabama. The exhibition was presented January 5–February 24, 2024.
Permanent Collection | Chanticleer Center
Demopolis, Alabama
The Chanticleer Center in downtown Demopolis is home to a permanent collection of Banks Compton's fine art. Original paintings are displayed throughout the lobby, hallways, and office spaces alongside photography documenting his murals across Alabama and beyond. The collection continues outside with Banks' large-scale Rooster Day mural, making the Center a unique showcase of both his studio practice and public artwork.
Faces, Foundations & Folklore
Shelby County Arts Council | Columbiana, Alabama | 2025
This solo exhibition explored personal memory, community identity, rural Alabama, and local folklore, combining intimate portraits with larger narrative paintings and documentation of Banks' public artwork.
The exhibition centered particularly on Banks' hometown of Demopolis and the people and histories of Marengo County. The Shelby County Arts Council described the collection as a visual archive preserving Alabama's landscapes, labor, legacy, and community stories.
Selected Paintings
About the Artist
Banks Compton is an Alabama muralist and fine artist whose work explores storytelling, nature, memory, culture, and place.
A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Banks works across painting, murals, sculpture, and public art. His paintings often focus on landscapes and figures from his personal life, exploring moments of connection, allegory, play, and emotion. His larger public practice carries many of these same ideas into murals and community spaces.