As the ‘Nice Surprise’ Street Art Festival wrapped up, Pobel’s impressive mural on Stavanger silos brought a bit of theater and activism to the fore. With a short lead time and a lot to learn, this first-time run festival was a heartfelt invitation to twelve talented artists from around the world, asking them to share their creativity from a variety of different vantage points in the street art/graffiti parlance with folks in Stavanger. It’s been a journey of unveiling and discovery, and here at BSA, it’s been our pleasure to travel alongside, capturing every mural and sharing it with you. Today, we give you a one-stop recap of all the pieces from the first ‘Nice Surprise’ festival.
We want to say thanks to Atle Østrem, Pøbel, Tore Pang, Izabell Ekeland, and Stine Oliversen for their gracious hospitality, enthusiasm, and attention to detail. We also wish to express our gratitude to Ian Cox, Tor Ståle, and Ludvig Hart for sharing their photographs with us. Thank you also to the great people we talked with on the streets and at our formal presentation at the theater. Perhaps we’ll see you next year!
In case you missed any of them, here are our postings from the festival:
Experience the synergy of history and contemporary urban art practice during this summer’s Nice Surprise street art festival with BSA in this Norwegian city. Join us as we celebrate Stavanger’s 900-year milestone with a new cadre of artists and programming that continues the modern heritage of this fortunate city on the North Sea with street art and graffiti.
Brisbane-based Sofles is an Australian graffiti writer and street artist known for his exceptional skills in both graffiti and mural art. Known for his distinct style, and mastery of many styles in graffiti, he’s been honing his skills since the late 90s. He’s developed a unique and versatile style that blends graffiti lettering, characters, and abstract elements – always infused with movement and a limitless sense of discovery.
Here’s a wall he did a collaboration on with Mathis, a straight up Norwegian painting pro with lots of commercial experience and respect in the graffiti game. Mathis Anvik has a lot of great work in many styles on his social media, including stuff from Vestfold Kunstdekor, a company that specializes in painting buses, or RUSSEBUSSER – often known as party buses used by Norwegian high school graduates. But that’s another story
Sofles was the very first artist to paint in Stavanger, Norway for this first edition of Nice Surprise!, an auspicious and new Street Art Festival that will get its wings throughout the summer in this Nordic city. While in town, Sofles painted a whole train with his pals Smug One, Milliana, and Norse, which you can read all about it here. He also painted this wall in collaboration with Mathis and a wall in the downtown center of the city by himself. Tor Ståle Moen, a resident of Stavanger and frequent BSA collaborator, shared the photos of the murals with BSA readers to enjoy.
Elfo is a graffiti writer and social commentator whose work intentionally sidesteps traditional notions of style or technical lettering. This …Read More »
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