This is part 2 of a series of new works from the 10th Annual Street Art Fest Grenoble, with photographs by veteran photographer Martha Cooper. The massive variety, quantity, and quality of works at Grenoble place it ahead of many festivals, as you can see here. Many of the murals are in context with their surroundings and collaborate with them in a meaningful way. For its 2024 edition, the Street Art Fest Grenoble-Alpes celebrates its 10th anniversary under the direction of Jérôme Catz and The Spacejunk Art Center. Today we focus strictly on the big statements, and there are many.
Yesterday, we shared with you the current edition of The Crystal Ship, a Belgian street art festival located in Ostend, which is located in the Flemish Region of Belgium. The collection of images that we presented was taken by photographer Martha Cooper, a frequent collaborator of BSA, during her recent trip to Ostend as a special guest of the festival.
In line with her usual practice, Ms. Cooper did not limit her work to capturing photos of the murals being painted for this year’s festival edition; she also endeavored to take as many photos of murals painted during previous editions of the festival. We are pleased to present a selection of these murals, painted over several years, with photographs taken by Martha Cooper herself.
This selection of murals is an exciting representation of the diverse and captivating street art that has been featured at The Crystal Ship Festival throughout the years, much of it creating a gallery of contemporary artists whose work is arresting and appealing to a general audience. The dedication and hard work put forth by Martha Cooper in capturing these pieces in all their artistic glory is genuinely commendable. We hope you enjoy this glimpse into the festival’s vibrant history and the incredible art showcased in the public square in Ostend over the years.
Mumbai is a city that captures the essence of Indian culture and tradition. When people think of Mumbai they may envision Bollywood actors executing their hook steps in flashy outfits with bright colors against extravagant backdrops. True, it is a place where Bollywood glamour and grandeur are made, but don’t forget the street food and Hindu festivals, and elaborate idols of Lord Ganesha. Also, the city’s Marine Drive, a picturesque promenade along the coastline, is a famous landmark that offers stunning views of the Arabian Sea. And yet, there is more to Mumbai than just the glitz and the glam.
Just a stone’s throw away from the Marine Drive lies Sassoon Docks, a hidden gem that has become a hub of Mumbai’s vibrant arts community. Located in South Mumbai’s historic fishing harbor of Colaba, Sassoon Docks has attracted a diverse range of artists, writers, photographers, and galleries. These artists are known for their focus on environmental issues and their collaborations with local fishermen. They use their work to celebrate and document the rich cultural traditions of Mumbai’s fishing communities. Through sculptures, paintings, and installations, they have created a unique tapestry that reflects the character and history of this charming area.
As part of St+art India’s festival, this year, invited artists had the opportunity to participate in murals, of course, but they also shared in the events that are rather normal for Sassoon Docks: talks, classes, performances, DJs. Recent events include researcher Shripad Sinnakaar presenting their poetry on Flamingoes in Dharavi, a light and sound installation, and the Indian drag queen Teya reading to kids and adults the children’s short story ‘The Many Colours of Anshu.’ They also hosted a conversation with pioneering documentary photographer Martha Cooper, the Swiss/San Franciscan muralist Mona Caron, and the Brooklyn-based Japanese street artist Lady Aiko on a panel moderated by co-founder and curator of St+art India Foundation Giulia Ambrogi.
Since Ms. Cooper was in Mumbai, she did us the great favor of capturing the works on the streets to share with the BSA family.
Today we have images from the Dharavi slum, a completely different street art project than the docks. It is an afternoon trip. According to some, it has become a larger tourist attraction than the Taj Mahal after it was featured in the movie “Slum Dog Millionaire”.
An ethnologist by training, Martha also befriends people. She asks if she can photograph them, so you will always get a sublime mix of art and people and the context in her collection. We’re proud to share these with you today; a city full of rich colors, street activity, elaborate design, religious symbols, and maritime history.
Following our previous story on the public/private art initiative “Boom!” festival in Salina, Kansas, we follow today with the one previous project on silos that ushered in many approvals for the festival by Australian mural artist (and photographer) Guido Van Helten.
Completed in the summer of 2021, the images of children playing a circular game like “Ring-Around-the-Rosie” fairly surround the HD Flour Mill. With a mix of sepia tones and faded pastels, the scene includes a diverse mix of kids rendered with tender respect, a composition that evokes the moment and captures a timeless truth that children and play go together like peanut butter and jelly. Van Helten got to know the community before he began the project, making this work a mirror of life in the area. His technical skill is remarkable, able to render such imagery on rounded forms and shapes in such a way that perspective is not lost.
The project is part of the Salina Kanvas Project and is privately funded by businesses and property owners with an expressed interest in promoting the area and drawing tourism.
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening: 1. The Wanderers – Guido van Helten. A Film by Selina Miles 2. Leon Keer. “Misfit” 3. Duality: A graffiti story. Trailer
BSA Special Feature: The Wanderers – Guido van Helten. A Film by Selina Miles
We focus today on one episode of a brilliantly human street art-related video-short series on artists called The Wanderers, directed by Selina Miles. Today we follow the muralist/portraitist/photographer Guido Van Helten as he travels to a small town in Australia to pursue stories, personalities, and a 10-car project on the train. Train writing, indeed!
“I am very interested in portraiture in a documentary style,” he says as you watch him almost tentatively introduce himself to new people. “I was a painter first, and now through this style of working, I’ve become very interested in meeting people and photography. Now I’m pushing myself to involve that in the process.”
A young veteran of storytelling, Miles allows the details of the scene to illustrate unique aspects of life and the people here. Without gawking, the subjects and their environments, and their body language are observed with the same respectful eye that the artist has as well. Each person responds differently, each brave to allow the film camera to capture them while Van Helton establishes a rapport. Ironically, he’s not comfortable with the process himself. “Sometimes this is challenging for me to introduce myself to people.”
These hand paintings of his subject’s eyes on the cars of a train may remind you of the photography of JR plastered across surfaces everywhere with a sense of spectacle – but these take such adept technical skill rendered with a unique warmth that it wouldn’t be fair to compare. Van Helten doesn’t even seem sure what his agenda is, aside from connecting in a human way to another.
Each chapter of this short film illustrates the connections, and you are rewarded with sumptuous sweeping views of the final results as well as the disarming pleasure the artist takes from it. “I enjoyed the idea of not knowing what reaction it could have with the people who see it,” he says of the project. “No one has any idea what this is going to do in the town. Maybe nothing, maybe something. Maybe someone will go home and say, ‘You know what I saw today! – Something really strange on the side of a train.’ I think that is exciting.”
The Wanderers – Guido van Helten. A Film by Selina Miles
Leon Keer. “Misfit”
Anamorphic street artist Leon Keer does a special project here at Château du Taureau in Baie de Morlaix France. His 3D floor painting ‘MISFIT’, is a reference to the previous use of this compound as a prison for the aristocracy – or at least certain members of their families who might cast them into dishonor.
“Under the Ancien Régime, most of the prisoners at the Château were Breton aristocrats,” says Leon’s description of the previous residents, “which were put in prison at the request of their own families, anxious to avoid dishonor. Libertinism, misalliance, madness, and an immoderate taste for alcohol or gambling could certainly lead to a forced stay at the Château during those days.”
Duality: A graffiti story. Trailer
A new film striking at the heart of the graffiti practice – the fact that many writers have a ‘straight’ life that doesn’t exactly run parallel to their night-time illegal escapades can in hand.
Director by Ryan Dowling, the stories of many are illustrated by the testimony of a small handful of writers who clearly elucidate the complexities of a form of expression that runs the gamut between criminalized and celebrated. Featuring a cast of DUAL, SLOKE ONE, JABER, MERES ONES, and NEVER – the stories vary, but the narratives return to foundational truths even as the scene evolves. Well produced and executed, Duality will join the list of ‘must-see’ documentaries about graffiti, street art, and everything in between.
In a space massive enough for a Dutch sea vessel, the Street Art Museum of Amsterdam (STRAAT) has one of the largest collections of today’s mural stars anywhere. During its official maiden voyage, curious street art/graffiti/contemporary art fans look to see if this ship is seaworthy. The brainchild of former graffiti writer, curator, and publisher Peter Ernst Coolen in the early 2010s, the D.N.A. of the museum is rooted in his forward vision as much as the ideal waterfront warehouse that showcases close to 200 international artists.
STRAAT Museum of Amsterdam.
Housed in a massive yet austere ship hull-welding hanger that closed in the 1980s, the airy space later hosted flea markets and similar events. Today the STRAAT is evolving into something more closely resembling a museum space due to recent structural and lighting improvements, but it hasn’t become a white box. If its origination story of punk culture, D.I.Y., and a well-loved graffiti Hall of Fame still holds water, this street art home by NDSM Wharf has the potential to be a world-class icon that retains credibility and out-paces other contenders.
The museum delivers a promise with a significant renovation, focused programming, public/private tours, an investment in marketing, branding/partnering, a sexy website, invited curators, and (no Banksy jokes, please) a gift shop. We’ve encountered the palpable energy of the select crew of creative directors, curators, content creators, and experience managers over the last few years. There is the desire to forge a soul of the new enterprise, as helmed by Coolen’s original business partner and civil engineer Peter Hoogewerf.
STRAAT Museum of Amsterdam. Kobra on the facade.
To appreciate where it may be heading, you now have a guidebook of works by the 200 or so artists who have created canvasses and sculpture here in the permanent collection. Given the wide span presented, the challenge will be to define a direction for this 8000 square meter shipyard space – aside from merely offering a broad survey of current names on the global stage.
STRAAT: Quote from the Streets (Lannoo Uitgeverij) is the name of the opening exhibition and a thick softcover tome of attractive art plates. It offers a collection of artists’ profiles, reflections, and artworks laid out in a spare and modern way, allowing the mind to wander or rest. With an intro by curator and founder of the Paris-based agency Le Grand Jeu Christian Omodeo, the travel/street art blogger Giulia Riva and writer Giovanna Di Giacomo are authors. Their essay explains that the STRAAT collection is organized here according to categories of Aesthetic, Ground, Empathic, and Conscious – with detailed descriptions of the respective characteristics and rationale laid out in the opening texts.
Sliks. STRAAT Museum of Amsterdam.
The range of styles and techniques here mirrors many of the mural movements on streets around the world today. The writers give valuable contextual background for decoding what often are high-quality artworks. A unifying and concise overview of each artist is a supporting firmament with enough academic rigor to enlighten the reader – no small feat in a world populated with fanboys and pseudo-intellectualizing. Because of it, this introduction to the museum is more than average data reportage – helping to broaden understanding of this multi-headed hydra called the street art scene. With a firm grip guiding the rudder, this ship looks like it is ready to sail.
ASTRO. STRAAT Museum of Amsterdam. Guido van Helten paints STRAAT’s Peter Hoogewerf. STRAAT Museum of Amsterdam. Ben Slow. STRAAT Museum of Amsterdam. Lannoo Uitgeverij.Adele Renault. STRAAT Museum of Amsterdam. Lannoo Uitgeverij.Ever. STRAAT Museum of Amsterdam. Lannoo Uitgeverij.Mr. June. STRAAT Museum of Amsterdam. Lannoo Uitgeverij.Dan Kitchner. STRAAT Museum of Amsterdam. Lannoo Uitgeverij.Icy & Sot. STRAAT Museum of Amsterdam. Lannoo Uitgeverij.Alaniz. STRAAT Museum of Amsterdam. Lannoo Uitgeverij.STRAAT Museum of Amsterdam. Lannoo Uitgeverij.
STRAAT MUSEUM: Quotes From The Streets. Published by Lannoo. Click HERE to learn more about STRAAT and to purchase the book.
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening: 1. Guido Van Helten – L’attesa – (The Wait) – 2017 2. “Spaciba” INO in Athens, Greece. 3. TrueSchool Hall of Fame via Dope Cans
BSA Special Feature: Guido Van Helten – L’attesa – (The Wait) – 2017
Today we look back a couple of years to a massive yet poignant project from artist Guido van Helten in Ragusa, Sicily where he honors the history of a modern place and an age-old practice of youth finding their own significant part of a city to meet up and socialize casually. Part of the third edition of FestiWall, a public art festival, he photographed friends and invited them to write their names in aerosol along the base of a wall while he painted their portraits above on a lift.
“It’s very much an expression of the young people and it is their space,” he says.
“I invited the class who I took photos of to write their names all along the base of that wall. It was a good symbol of them taking back the wall in that space.The wall is a popular space where people come to hang out so there is an energy in that wall and in energy of that space which I really enjoyed”
Guido Van Helten – L’attesa – (The Wait) – 2017
“Spaciba” INO in Athens, Greece.
Accessing a difficult wall using only rope suspension, INO paints this Athens mural of young girl with a big hammer. He says it is a symbol of ” a new generation breaking barriers of equality.”
TrueSchool Hall of Fame via Dope Cans
A short Hall of Fame video with writers from Wrocław, Poland featuring Dope Cans Classic & Dope The Wall
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening: 1. REFLECTIONS: Guido Van Helten and The Wellington Dam Mural 2. Mear One in Los Angeles via Bird Man 3. Telmo Miel: Tunnel Vision in Brussels
BSA Special Feature: REFLECTIONS: Guido Van Helten and The Wellington Dam Mural
A trip today to Wellington Dam, a jewel in the national park in Southwest Australia, only a couple of hours from Perth. Queensland Artist Guido van Helten took care to study the history and people from the dam area to understand their connection to it better – and in the process, it found a more profound connection to the water by some of the people who have lived there for many years.
“It’s just weird to feel like you’re this ‘issue’ in society and that the world is divided with how much they should care about you or how much they should listen to you or should be concerned with issues around your life. It’s weird to be like a battleground,” says co-director and subject Kwesi Thomas says in the opening of the film.
Using a bespoke swing stage, the artist painted the 8000 square meter mural with the help of serious engineering talents from the dam authority, who moved him 30 times to paint in enormous strips of texture and memories.
“I was basically painting while it was moving up and down, up and down,” he says. Part of The Collie Mural Trail that consists of 40 murals throughout the town, Guido says that “Reflections” is inspired by local stories and photographs. In addition to the sheer size and impact of its focus, the video also tells a rather moving story.
Behind the scenes: The making of the Wellington Dam Mural by Guido Van Helten
Mear One in Los Angeles via Bird Man
The Melrose alleys in LA provide inspiration here in this video shot and directed by Birdman – of the tribute to the Czech painter, illustrator and graphic Alphonse Mucha by graffti/muralist Kalen Ockerman, known as Mear One.
Choosing the goddess Gaia as muse, Mear One talks in his over-narration of what he say as Mucha’s treatement of the feminine and how it was reflected in the beauty of nature, its harmonious design, function and aesthetic. “I always loved how he expressed visually the spiritual and mystical,” he says. The clarity of his focus is apparent here as he pays honor to the artist as well as science, art, and philosophy.
Telmo Miel: Tunnel Visionin Brussels
Here is a tunnel in Brussels artists Miel (Amsterdam) and Telmo (Rotterdam) painted a human chain metaphorically connecting the neighborhoods of Machelen and Diegem. The public work is meant perhaps to ease among residents amid news reports of increased vandalism, drug use, and traffic nuisances among some. As in many western countries, it may have something to do with economics, race, and class. Says organizer All About Things, a private gallery-fueled public cultural initiative that has locked in many international street artists to beautify the area, “this mishmash of people indicates that we are stronger together.”
The videos that we present every week on BSA Film Friday give us as much inspiration as they do our readers, and we are honored to see the progression of artists and directors as they continue to capture, document, and share their skills, techniques, and stories. This year we have seen a continued professional quality, a widened scope, a desire to connect with an audience perhaps in a way that we haven’t seen before. Each of these videos, whether completed in-studio or shot by hand on a phone, touched you- and the numbers of clicks and re-shares tell us the story. Or many of them.
No. 10
INTI / “PRIMAVERA INSURRECTA”, Spring Insurrection
From
vandalizing public sculptures to handmade signs to waving banners, banging oil
drums and pots and pans, lighting fires, chanting, and dancing in the streets –
these are the insistent voices and perspectives coursing through streets in
cities around the world, including these scenes from Chile last month. In one
of the tales of people’s victory, these marches and mobilizations of citizens
pushing for their rights and fighting state overreach actually worked this
month and Chile’s protesters have won a path to a
new constitution.
During the demonstrations Chilean Street Artist INTI was at work outside in Santiago as well, adding to the public discourse, with his new work entitled “Dignity!” It was a spring insurrection, now culminating in an autumn victory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_-5wdutumQ
No. 09
Icy & Sot: Giving Plants. Film By Doug Gillen/FWTV
Street Art brothers Icy and Sot once again lead by example with their latest act of artivism at a refugee camp in Greece.
People chased from their homes by wars in places like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan are now part of a larger conversation in Europe as countries struggle to accept the massive numbers of refugees in the last decade. On the Greek island of Lesbos, the overcrowding of a camp named Moria has produced Olive Grove, a temporary place full of tents, but little nature.
While they have traveled around many international cities in the last
five years creating site-specific interventions that contemplate issues
of immigration, environmental degradation, and endangered species, the
artists felt that the gravity of this place merited something more than
just an art installation.
Working with a group called Movement on the Ground and with Doug Gillen of Fifth Wall TV in tow, the two helped build raised gardens and planted vegetables, in addition to handing out many potted plants. Today we have images of persons in the camp from Icy & Sot along with the new video, one of Doug’s best.
No. 08
Guido van Helten in Faulkton, South Dakota by Brian Siskind
A massive piece by the observant eye of Guido van Helten, who knows how to capture a spirit, a gesture, a knowing expression. Here on a grain elevator in Faulkton, South Dakota, his piece becomes a clarion, captured here by Brian Siskind.
Bordalo II “A Life of Waste” A short film by Trevor Whelan & Rua Meegan
Spending a lot of time and effort clawing your way to the top of the pile, braying
loudly about your achievements and kicking the people behind you back down the
hill? Look where you are standing. It’s a mountain of garbage. And you don’t really
care for the others up here.
Bordallo II has been examining our culture of waste. And making sculpture from it. “The artwork is really a reflection of what we are,” he says. “I always had my conscience.”
Land artist Jorge Gerada mounts a large project in Ouarzazate, Morocco that extends over 37,500 meters in this commissioned job for a coffee brand calendar. Using rakes, stones, dark gravel, and vegetable oil, a scene of two hands under running water is created.
In a collaborative gallery space or at a barbecue on Devil’s Mountain, Berlin’s calligraffiti writers and artists are showing off the attitude and exactitude of the city as well as the evolution of this art form.
Hosted by Theosone at the “Scriptorium Berlin” and
curated by Makearte, a small selection
of scientists artists are convened at the Letters Temple where artists create
an exhibition with lucid and ornate letter skillz. Later on Devil’s Mountain
(Tefelsberg) they paint together for the first time.
In the videos featuring daredevilry, parkour and graffiti the Lengua Drona
has been adding words to our visual vocabulary that were once reserved
for extreme sporting, National Geographic docs, Crocodile Dundee and
James Bond.
Now the pixação writer and urban climber, Paradox releases
unprecedented adventure footage and editing from photographer CPT. Olf,
and its sending shockwaves.
Somehow this is a new way to synthesize wall-climbing and train
surfing; positioning it as a visual and audio symphony that almost makes
you forget that these are graffiti vandals “fucking the system”,
pushing their limits – and yours.
As you thrill to these evolving genre-combining aspects of Oleg
Cricket, 1Up Crew, Berlin Kidz, and Ang Lee, it’s important to realize
that these are real risks that people take that could result in serious
injury, death, and rivers of grief if a miscalculation happens. So,
yeah, we’re not endorsing the irresponsible risks or a mounting “arms
race” of stunts, but we are endorsing the athleticism, imagination, and
sheer slickness of this FPV drone mastery, which appears to have taken
this stuff up another level.
The doublespeak of Banksy very effectively demanded a whirlwind of media
attention in the art/Street Art world once again this week. The
anti-capitalist launched a full street-side exhibition while his
personal/anonymous brand benefitted by the new record auction price of
9.9 million pounds with fees for one of his works depicting a “Devolved
Parliament” full of apes – precisely during the height of inpending Brexit hysteria
A culmination of five years of murals visible from planes, French duo Ella & Pitr nudge you awake on a sleepy Friday to say “Thank you for being part of this story!” You didn’t even realize that you were a part of it, did you? In a way, you can see your own reflection somewhere here.
Their sleeping giants have appeared in cities around the world, often too big even for the massive rooftops they are crammed uncomfortably atop. With a true knack for childhood wonder and illustration, perhaps because they have a couple of them at home for inspiration, Ella & Pitr bring the petite rebel spirit to these characters; imperfect specimens with stylistic idiosyncrasies and sometimes ornery personalities.
In the end, they were all “heavy sleepers” resting temporarily, as is often the case with (sub)urban interventions variously referred to as Street Art, public art, land art, pavement art… Make sure you stay for the end of this video that comprised most of the giants.
No. 01
Graffiti Jam in San Francisquito, Queretaro with Martha Cooper
When local graff writers in Queretaro, Mexico heard that New York’s famous photographer Martha Cooper was going to be in their town for a new exhibition they decided to welcome her in the best way they knew how: A graffiti jam on a train.
With the help of the organizers at Nueve Arte Urbano, the local kings and queens scored a long wall on a busy major avenue that they could paint subway cars on and convert to an NYC train. They hoped Martha would feel at home seeing this and it looked like she definitely did.
It’s a fast-growing major city without a subway, even though it could definitely use a more inclusive and efficient public transportation system since its quick growth has swelled to a million inhabitants. Scores of multi-national corporations left the US and set up shop here since they wrote the NAFTA trade deal and now employ this highly educated population.
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening : 1. “REWILD” from Escif 2. Guido van Helten in Faulkton, South Dakota by Brian Siskind 3. How Artist JR Is Helping Connect Our Humanity Through Street Art
BSA Special Feature: “REWILD” from Escif
As part of our core commitment as a non-commercial platform that has helped hundreds of artists over the last decade+, BSA significantly helped Escif to raise money for his Indiegogo fundraiser in Spring 2017 when we promoted his “Breath-Time” horticultural project heavily as he planted trees to reforest Mount Olivella in Southern Italy.
Today BSA debuts REWILD, a new
tree-related project by the Spanish Street Artists – just as the Global Climate
March is spreading to cities around the world, including New York.
The concept of the short film is
simple: can’t we just push the “Rewind” button?
“The narrative runs in reverse, rewinding the clock on deforestation to undo the damage caused by the unsustainable production of one of the worlds most versatile commodities. Beyond the industrialisation of the land, we end at the beginning, a thriving eco system alive with wildlife. The concept mirrors the real world action of the Sumatran Orangutan Society and their partners in reclaiming land on the borders of the Leuser rainforests to rewild them with indigenous trees, expanding the boundaries of one of the most biodiverse places on earth.”
Finally, a stunning custom soundtrack by Indonesian composer Nursalim Yadi Anugerah captures and carries this into another world, which is possible.
Guido van Helten in Faulkton, South Dakota by Brian Siskind
A massive piece by the observant eye of Guido van Helten, who knows how to capture a spirit, a gesture, a knowing expression. Here on a grain elevator in Faulkton, South Dakota, his piece becomes a clarion, captured here by Brian Siskind.
How Artist JR Is Helping Connect Our Humanity Through Street Art |
The Brooklyn Museum will be unveiling an exhibition with the works of French Street Artist JR this October. Here’s a small video of him explaining how his work is a connector between humans.
Welcome to January 2 and you may be feeling a little more lethargic as you go through your duties today, looking askance at the empty bottles, stray glitter, the new rip in the rug. Yes, there is some damage to the carpet from all that dancing you and your Aunt Francine and cousin Ozzie were doing as the clock struck twelve!
Guess that is why it is called “cutting the rug”.
Fintan Magee & Guido Van Helten. ‘The Carpet Repairmen”. Tehran, Iran. (photo courtesy of the artists)
No worries, we’re bringing in the ‘The Carpet Repairmen’, a new large scale mural collaboration between Australian Street Artists Guido Van Helten and Fintan Magee that they finished as a commission recently in Tehran, Iran. Meant to mark the 50th anniversary of the Australian Embassy in Iran, the current US president naturally ruined the timing of the celebration of peace and goodwill by putting more sanctions on the country and tension on the event, say the artists.
As one may expect, mural making in Middle Eastern countries has often been reserved for politics anyway; with propagandist messages, murals of martyrs, images recalling war, political leaders. Van Helten and Magee concentrate instead on the valued talents of the carpet makers – a history and work of pride that no one can argue with.
Fintan Magee & Guido Van Helten. ‘The Carpet Repairmen”. Tehran, Iran. (photo courtesy of the artists)
They tell us:
“This mural is based on images of two carpet repairmen working in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar. Persian carpets are famous world wide for their quality and craftsmanship. Then men work 8-10 hours each day rethreading and stitching old and damaged carpets, the repetitive work requires incredible hand skills and speed. This painting pays homage to the dignity of hard work while putting a human face to an important aspect of craft and culture in Persia.
The painting ‘The Carpet Repairmen’ also act’s as a broader metaphor for working life in Iran. Decades of economic sanctions and blockades on imports and have meant that people have to be resourceful in the country. Reusing, repairing and recycling products has become a necessity. Showing the resilience of the Iranian people and how life goes on in this hospitable, welcoming and ancient culture.”
Fintan Magee & Guido Van Helten. ‘The Carpet Repairmen”. Tehran, Iran. (photo courtesy of the artists)
This week we have a selection of the UPEART festivals’ two previous editions of murals – which we were lucky to see this week after driving across the country in an old VW Bora. We hit 8 cities and drove along the border with Russia through some of the most picturesque forests and farmlands that you’ll likely see just to collect images of the murals that this Finnish mural festival has produced with close consultation with Fins in these neighborhoods. A logistical challenge to accomplish, we marvel at how this widespread program is achieved – undoubtedly due to the passion of director Jorgos Fanaris and his insatiable curiosity for discovering talents and giving them a platform for expression.
So here is a sample from what we found from UPEART’s two previous iterations before the recently completed UPEART 2018.
So here is our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Apolo Torres, Artz, Dulk, Espoo, Fintan Magee, Guido Van Helten, Pat Perry, Smug, Teemu Maenpaa, Tellas, and Telmo & Miel.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
