Sponsored and curated by Biennale Street Art, this new wall in Padova, Italy is by muralist JDL, who has said that she makes art about people who are not being seen and not being heard. In this case, she says the mural is inspired by a person she calls ‘F’, “who knew his life would fall apart soon due to a personal crisis but still lived life fully. I spent a happy moment with him, learning to find joy in difficult times and how to dance with my eyes closed.”
JDL (Judith de Leeuw) says she chose this topic because it is on the façade of a building that houses the public institution INAIL (Istituto Nazionale per l’Assicurazione contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro), which provides insurance coverage for workplace accidents and occupational diseases in Italy. Operating under the supervision of the Italian Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, INAIL’s primary responsibility is to ensure that employees in Italy are protected and compensated for any injuries or illnesses they sustain as a result of their work. It offers mandatory insurance coverage to employers, which helps to provide compensation and benefits to employees who experience work-related accidents or develop occupational diseases.
“I am very happy and honored,” says JDL, “that my piece and its meaning meant so much to the people who, for instance, lost a hand because of an accident.”
Style Wars! A new interpretation of it is blazoned across the Houston Wall thanks to Optimo NYC, who is rather owning it recently. This free-wheeling ever changing magnet for attention in a very gentrified Manhattan cheers the fans of true graffiti almost daily right now, buffeted by the roar of traffic and the occasional rock band playing in front of it.
The many flavors of New York street art and graffiti are everywhere – in community murals speaking about mental health, aerosol tags in doorways, in wheatpasted poems on subway columns, in soldiered sculptures on the sides of parking signs. New Yorkers love to be expressive, and in general, indulge one another’s imperfect ways of doing it. There is usually someone who is crowing about the golden age of New York, and who can deny one person’s perspective. Ever the optimists, we see the changes, the losses, the gains, and the free-wheeling spirit alive on the streets, and we think New York is having a golden age right now.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: EVOL, Cey Adams, Giani NYC, No Sleep, Mort Art, JDL, Optimo NYC, Chris RWK, SEIMR, RUTHE, Scott McDonald, Sawr, Tymon De Laat, Amill Onair, Sherwin Banfield, and David H. Wagner.
It looks like it is a matter of survival of the fittest for the two women here painted by the Dutch street artist and muralist Judith de Leeuw, whose street moniker is JDL. A vague reference to the birds who get saturated by oil spills, the floundering figure is destined to drown thanks to thoughtless greed. Meanwhile, so far, one still lives – whether by wit or plum luck.
Part of the Roman “Street Art for Rights Forum Festival,” the 40-meter mural on the Serpentone in Corviale is meant as an allusion tangentially to the climate crises, says the press release. More directly, it points to an unchecked brutal capitalism that picks winners and losers as it ravages the earth and its people. The mural, organizers say, is “a metaphor for a society blinded by profit, that is heading for self-destruction, aiming for the maximum today regardless of the future.”
In recognition of those who came before her JDL “chose not to erase some inscriptions created by residents of the neighborhood” at the base of the building when creating her new work. The artist would like to thank street artists Spike, Smok, Marqus, Boogie, Joys, and the Street Art for Rights team for operational support for her mural.
A powerful sentiment is portrayed in this new and acutely personal mural in Belgrade, Serbia, today.
For us, it is a reminder that we don’t always know who is walking near us with a broken heart. We all do at certain parts of our lives, no matter what. Perhaps it is good for us to be a bit more caring, a little more patient, and a little more human in our daily interactions.
JDL. “Love is stronger than death”. Runaway Festival. Belgrade, Serbia. (photo courtesy of the artist)
“It is one year ago since my most loved one got diagnosed with terminal cancer,” street artist JDL shares with us. “Now that he died recently, I will spend my coming murals on dedicating his beautiful piece of mind.”
Part of the Runaway International Street Art Festival here and under the guiding eye of curator Andrej Josifovski, the mural rises many floors about this Belgrade street. It is sponsored by the Embassy of the Netherlands, home to the Amsterdam-based artist known as JDL Streetart (Judith de Leeuw).
Speaking of her dearly departed and much loved one, JDL says, “As he stated in the past year: I don’t have to be present to be here with you, because love is stronger than death.”
JDL. “Love is stronger than death”. Runaway Festival. Belgrade, Serbia. (photo courtesy of the artist)JDL. “Love is stronger than death”. Runaway Festival. Belgrade, Serbia. (photo courtesy of the artist)JDL. “Love is stronger than death”. Runaway Festival. Belgrade, Serbia. (photo courtesy of the artist)JDL. “Love is stronger than death”. Runaway Festival. Belgrade, Serbia. (photo courtesy of the artist)JDL. “Love is stronger than death”. Runaway Festival. Belgrade, Serbia. (photo courtesy of the artist)JDL. “Love is stronger than death”. Runaway Festival. Belgrade, Serbia. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Everywhere you look today it seems like there is a storm of papers and forms for you to complete – you may even feel like this Surinamese ballerina dancing in a whirlwind of official documents in Leidseplein, Amsterdam.
The topic drives this new mural by JDL, who chose a ballerina because she observed how few persons of color make it into the arts as well, and she wonders about those same prejudices at work in other forms of bureaucracy.
“The Netherlands has come a long way, but there is still a lot of work to do,” she says. “This piece is a small reminder and dedication to keep dancing in bureaucracy. With awareness comes change, and by constantly addressing the issue we will collectively walk towards a brighter, more equal future.”
This project was realized with the contributions of: Yourban2030, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, Airlite, Won Yip and Humberto Tan.
When you are in trouble, reach out! You don’t have to do it alone. That is the sentiment you may think of when regarding this new mural by JDL (Judith de Leeuw) in Amsterdam.
The three frame story reads like stills in an animation, with two hand gradually getting closer to one another, loosely wrapped in bandage.
JDL. “Closer in distance”. Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Intended as a temporary placeholder for the new HIV/AIDS monument that will be installed soon at Amsterdam Central Station, JDL says that she’s depicting the relationships between people who are ill and their loved ones.
“Illness often isolates, but also brings people closer together,” says the artist. “This piece is a symbol and a celebration of the love that grows at the edge of the abyss.”
The three separate frames will be placed around the station at the projects’ end.
JDL would like to thank her assistant painter on this project, James Jetlag.
In a city known for its reverence of so-called classical beauty, this beauty is looking in the mirror and seeing someone who others may not. She’s “looking into a frame, as a mirror, seeing her reflection as a man,” says JDL.
“It is designed to create an emotional understanding in the process of acceptance of persons in the LGBT+ movement.”
Part of Yourban2030, organizers say it is the first green mural dedicated to the LGBTQ+ movement, with mixed materials – where the last layer of paint (airlite) is actively displacing enough pollution to equal the same amount produced by 52 cars per day.
Together with the team, JDL has created an iconic image of the LGBTQ+ world, Andrea Berardicurti, a larger than life figure who passed away in 2018 and who was also known as Karl Du Pigne.
Here’s the euronews video on YouTube where a lot of hateful comments were added towards the LGBT+ community, a time-honored tradition that still hangs on:
This mural was done in collaboration with Yourban2030 and with the support of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Circolo Mario Mieli, and Vladimir luxuria.
An hour north of New York City in the wealthiest
county of the state, a new mural program extends the reach of organizers Audrey
and Thibault Decker of Street Art for Mankind. They say that they have
produced murals and exhibitions in Larchmont, Mamaroneck, and Midtown with the support
of more than 50 international Street Artists in the last few years – all with
the goal of raising awareness and funds to stop child trafficking worldwide.
The New Rochelle murals that went up this fall and were
debuted in November through and organized art walk and other events appear to
be more loosely correlated with local pride and history, such as the one by
artist Loic Ercolessi featuring local-born musician Don Mclean (“American Pie) and
Manhattan-born musician Alicia Keyes (“Empire State of Mind”).
An inspiring walk through the city’s downtown neighborhood on a grey and brisk fall day to discover these new murals was warmed by sharing the experience with photographer Martha Cooper, who took the train up from the city with BSA co-founder Jaime Rojo to catch the new works. The program here is called “NRNY Artsy Murals” and a highlight from this day was taking a cherry lift with Ukrainian Street Artist AEC to get a closer look at him while he worked on his new mural of allegorical surrealism.
The
quality is obviously high and the program eclectic, including artists such as DanK
(GBR), Elle (USA & AUS), JDL (NLD), Loic Ercolessi (USA & FRA), Lula
Goce (SPA), Mr Cenz (GBR) and Victor Ash (DEN, FRAand POR). Ash left the city
with a new floating astronaut high above the Earth, which may describe some of
the uplifting feelings passersby may experience here in New Rochelle.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
