As satisfyingly “street” as it is to dodge 18-wheelers that barrel down Flushing Avenue like they want to kill you and to wipe a quarter inch of caked cement dust and grime from your face when painting in Bushwick or to inhale the oily toxic smelling air when wheat-pasting in Newton Creek or building a sculpture on the banks of the Gowanus canal that “smells overwhelmingly like an army of demonically-possessed feet,” even graff writers and street artists occasionally long for the wide open spaces of the countryside. Sometimes a homey just wants to get out to the pasture and talk to a cow and hit up a barn.

Canemorto. Ranavik, Norway. (photo © Canemorto)

We’ve documented the increased interest in rural buildings being hit by street artists a number of times in the last few years, and while we may not have declared it to be a trend yet, be prepared to see painted more sheds and silos the next time you head out of the city to see the fall foliage.

The brutalist portraiture of Italian Street Artists Canemorto has been featured here a handful of times and today we take you to their ex-urban art explorations recently in Norway, where the trio were invited for a two week residency in Ranavik.  When they weren’t conducting workshops on collective mural painting at an art school and creating a small exhibit at a local gallery, they were improvising on cylindrical shaped architecture and the occasional barnside.

Canemorto. Ranavik, Norway. (photo © Canemorto)

Gestural and in the moment, the final compositions call to mind Picasso, Francis Bacon, and the energy of newer painters like Alexandros Vasmoulakis, Anthony Lister and Simon Birch – but unpolished and proud of it. Canemorto also know how to steer clear of the painfully self-reverent style that can afflict some contemporaries as they throw in the freewheeling spirit of Dr. Seuss to keep us from taking it all too seriously.

“It was a great experience,” the guys say of their trip to this small island on the southwest coast, and of course they did some walls in Ranavik and Bergen to complete the city-country cycle. Interestingly, their style translates well to both barn and abandoned factory wall.

Canemorto. Ranavik, Norway. (photo © Canemorto)

Canemorto. Ranavik, Norway. (photo © Canemorto)

Canemorto. Ranavik, Norway. (photo © Canemorto)

Canemorto. Ranavik, Norway. (photo © Canemorto)

Canemorto. Ranavik, Norway. (photo © Canemorto)

Canemorto. Bergen, Norway. (photo © Canemorto)

Canemorto. Bergen, Norway. (photo © Canemorto)

Canemorto. Bergen, Norway. (photo © Canemorto)

Canemorto. Bergen, Norway. (photo © Canemorto)

Canemorto. Kaffe Gallerie. Ranavik, Norway. (photo © Canemorto)

Canemorto. Kaffe Gallerie. Ranavik, Norway. (photo © Canemorto)

Canemorto. Kaffe Gallerie. Ranavik, Norway. (photo © Canemorto)

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