Mural Art

Street Art News | Because of the Fukushima and Madrid posting break, I just came up with the idea to give you a small overview about what happened in the international street art and graffiti world in the last couple of days. Therefore I collected the top urban art news I stumbled upon while zapping through my RSS feed reader. And here we go… Base23 meets Morten Andersen The two hell hounds from the north, Base23 and Morten Andersen, just opened their recent exhibition at Pretty Portal Gallery in Düsseldorf! A must to see for all who like graffiti-inspired paintings from outer space and fantastic colored characters… ...

Urban Comic Art | I love that great intervention which as recently done by urban artist Pantonio! He created a comic-related mural artwork after a car crashed into a concrete wall in the Portuguese capital Lisbon… The comic style explosion graphics are cropped to the pieces left in the wall in such a way that one could wonder which came first the graffiti or the crash, or graffiti made with dynamite paint. (designboom.com) ...

City Documentary | Do you remember the ruins of Detroit, which are a paradise for urban explorers and artists from all over the globe? Right after I published that post I got a message by Bixentro from London, who informed me about a small documentary by Palladium Boots about the city of Detroit, in which Mister Knoxville himself explores abandoned areas and the new generation of creative people restructuring and reorganizing the public life… ...

Abandoned Places | Right, I have a marked preference for old and abandoned buildings. The remarkable charm, the historical atmosphere, the silence and the explorer-feeling are indescribable, for what reason you need to take photos to catch the power of the moment! Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre, both born in Parisian suburbs, photograph for several years abandoned places around the world. Their most famous photographs are those showing “The Ruins of Detroit”, which were already shown in different galleries in Paris, Stockholm and Strasbourg. ...

Art Competition | One of my most favorite European cities London has another art competition: Rich Mix and Havana Club just launched “The Wall Project” taking place over the next 12 months in the heart of London’s most vibrant creative area and cultural hotspot Shoreditch! Famous urban artist Remi/Rough (I visited his studio last year!) broke the first ground with his interpretation and vision of the values that make Havana so unique. He’s also the head of experts selecting the winning interior designs… ...

Urban Destruction Art | Almost a year ago I showed you my love for this kind of rough and energetic urban art by publishing a big fat interview with Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto aka Vhils! Now he’s back with a big bang-boom-bang and jumped in from zero to hero with these awesome exploding wall… I try focusing on the act of destruction to create; this is a notion I first came across in Graffiti, and it has been very influential in my work. I believe we are all formed of different sets of layers: personal, social, cultural, historical and so on. (Vhils) ...

Spanish Mural Art | He collaborated with famous graffiti artist Smash137, has been a part of the “Art Brut” graffiti festival and painted his own concrete wall at the end of last year! Sure, I’m talking about Spanish urban artist Aryz, who becomes more and more popular these days… Recently I found another video from 2009 showing him spray-painting a beautiful indoor mural in the “Montana Coffee & Pizza” shop in Barcelona! Again I’m totally impressed by his technique, style and colors! I’m pretty sure we will get a lot to see of his art this year - We should be excited. ...

Animal Walls | While we had a more or less hard winter in Europe, famous urban artist Roa flew over the sea and did some nice new mural stuff in Mexico! After having a look at the brand-new photos of his spray-painted animals on Ekosystem I have to say, that Roa’s style is and remains unique in my eyes… In addition to a lot of new walls showing those well-known graffiti animals, Roa also hooked up with Mexican urban artists Saner and Sego to create some wicked collaborations! ...

Splatter Graffiti | Spray-painting without caps is a nice way to create unique backgrounds and fillings and to create in that way a unique, rough piece! Also the famous two graffiti artists Smash137 and Risk used this technique when caught up the other day to paint a wall near Miami Beach. Both destroyed the covers of their cans by the help of some knifes to paint in a more or less uncontrolled way. Although I really love that rough and unconventional style I never tried it myself because it’s a bit waste, but I have to say it looks like a lot of fun and for sure it is an alternative way of spray-painting! ...

Mural Art | After Spanish graffiti and street artist Aryz painted his concrete wall, Barcelona-based GR170 is the next artist participating in the “Concrete Walls” project! GR170 was born, and now paints and lives, in the outskirts of Barcelona. He began painting in 2001, and now considers himself to be a painting addict, who loves painting on the streets, and the stale smell of plastic (paint) in the morning. Due to the zero tolerance police, and the hypocrisy of the government bodies behind it, the creation of murals on the streets of Barcelona has become more and more restricted. For this, and other, reasons, the majority of murals created are illegal, and done with no profit in mind, in abandoned factories, tunnels, motorway bridges, and any other places with big cement walls which are not watched over by police. (mtn-world.com) ...