French-Swiss artist Saype continues enthralling the world with his ambitious “Beyond Walls” project, which aims to create the largest global symbolic human chain. This project, initiated in 2019 in Paris, uses biodegradable pigments to paint massive, intertwined hands, symbolizing unity and solidarity.
Saype has chosen the Pyramids of Giza for the twentieth installment, an iconic site representing eternity. This location highlights the beauty of the ancient structures and renews the dialogue between the past and present. Saype’s eco-friendly art connects civilizations and promotes values of togetherness and mutual aid.
Regarding his project at Giza, Saype remarked, “This encounter between ephemeral art and millennia-old constructions symbolizes the continuity and interconnection of humanity through time.” His work emphasizes the importance of kindness and unity in a polarized world, using art as a bridge across cultures and epochs.
The “Beyond Walls” project has traveled to various locations, including Brazil, Japan, and South Africa, each time bringing a commentary on human connection and environmental responsibility.
Now in his mid-thirties and painting large skill land art for over a decade, it is still a pleasant surprise to see renowned street artist Saype unveiling a new masterpiece. His recent project in Place des Nations, Geneva, was commissioned by Handicap International. With it, he hopes to present an eco-responsible image that depicts a hand emblematic of humanity, offering a new leg to the iconic “Broken Chair” – a symbol for the numerous innocent victims of war bombings.
Saype, whose real name is Guillaume Legros, hails from Belfort, France, and has long been recognized for his commitment to eco-friendly and humanitarian art. His unique concoction of biodegradable paints made chiefly from chalk and charcoal ensures that his massive artworks naturally fade over time, minimizing ecological impact. And yet, the transient nature of his art somehow makes his messages even more profound, drawing attention to the fragility of our societies.
Across the vast expanses of grass, sand, snow, and earth in global cities like New York, Paris, Istanbul, and Cape Town, Saype consistently crafts monumental frescoes that resonate with geopolitical causes. Whether it’s unity, peace, or the shared human experience, his art often touches upon pressing global issues and calls upon humanity to rise and address them. Though transient, his frescoes aim to create lasting impressions on the psyche, urging a shift in societal mentalities while respecting nature.
This “ALL OF US!” fresco in Geneva is particularly poignant. In dialogue with the Broken Chair’s advocacy against the horrors of explosive weaponry, Saype underscores the universal call for peace, unity, and understanding.
French-Swiss artist Saype is continuing on his ambitious worldwide project, “Beyond Walls,” bringing it to Japan with an awe-inspiring display across multiple cities. From April 22nd to May 14th, 2023, four monumental landart paintings were painted by the artist in Okinawa, Nagasaki, Fuji, and Tokyo, forming the 17th step of this visionary endeavor.
Saype’s artworks, crafted with natural pigments derived from charcoal and chalk, are part of what he intends to be the largest human chain ever created. As the final witnesses of the 20th-century tragedies fade away, Saype endeavors here to become a spokesperson through the invitation of the United Voices movement, which aims to transmit a profound message of peace and solidarity to future generations. By symbolically painting intertwined hands traversing various locations, Saype would like to challenge the divisions of our world, urging us to embrace kindness, togetherness, and collective efforts beyond walls.
BEYOND WALLS NAGASAKI Ending the war, but at what cost? Nagasaki is both the epicenter of human madness and the incredible hope of the survivors of inhumanity. This mural, a transmission symbol, reminds us that memory is the best ally of peace.
BEYOND WALLS OKINAWA It is at the Okinawa Peace Memorial that Saype created his first Beyond Walls mural in Japan. A fragile and ephemeral work, just a few steps away from the graves of soldiers of all nationalities who fought on the only battlefield on Japanese territory. Although decades have passed since this battle, the archipelago remains of crucial strategic importance.
BEYOND WALLS FUJI It is undoubtedly the most iconic place in Japan. By marking this symbol of eternity with his ephemeral work, which sees humanity passing by its foot, Saype puts our place on Earth and our priorities into perspective.
BEYOND WALLS TOKYO It was unthinkable for Saype’s human chain not to pass through Tokyo. Here, tradition meets modernity in a cultural and human effervescence like no other. A megalopolis as serene as it is immense, Tokyo is writing history before our eyes, in the shadow of its past.
Knowing that most of the corporate media and state interests are owned or influenced by interests vested in oil, we’ll never get an accurate reading on the extent of damage incurred nor the danger to our future. If so, it will be after the money is made.
Remember how many decades it took to get cigarettes out of our daily life/death? And when we caught them, they just renamed themselves, rebranded, and moved on to greener pastures of unsuspecting consumers. They’ll keep kicking that can down the road, keeping the economy hooked, creating clouds of confusion and suspicion around the topic in the media and culture until they can squeeze the last dollar out of it. Or Yuan, once the BRICs countries fully congeal.
In the meantime, some are still pursuing alternate energy options, like solar for example.
“I chose to paint this child playing with the magic of solar energy,” says French-Swiss street artist and land muralist Saype. “Looking towards the horizon, he symbolizes the renewal of a civilization that must now reinvent itself to continue to grow without destroying the planet.”
The 11,250 square meter artwork is titled “Toward Good Ideas?”, is made of biodegradable pigments, and is at the Ibri solar farm in Oman. Saype says that he hopes the work causes us to question our relationship to energy and to seriously consider what new solutions are available to replace fossil fuels.
The project is supported by the Swiss Embassy in Oman.
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening: 1. Black Power in Hair: Babybangz 2. Hair on Fire – Emergency on Planet Earth 3. Land Graffiti or Grass Graffiti? Why Split Hairs? Saype via Arte.tv 4. When Hair Bands Wandered the Earth – “Hot for Teacher” – Mutoid Man
BSA Special Feature: Black Power in Hair: Babybangz
“In a documentary by Juliana Kasumu, a group of Black women gathers at Babybangz salon to discuss natural hair, the impact of gentrification in New Orleans, and their personal journeys toward self-love.”
All bow to the power of hair.
Black Power in Hair: Babybangz
Emergency on Planet Earth
A new exhibition featuring artist from the graffiti/street art spheres is drawing attention to the fragile moment humans are in as we are reaping the harvest of years of abusing the Earth. The show presents 12 different spaces in situ to address different environmental issues of our day. This is a time of emergency on Planet Earth.
Saype Documentary via Arte.tv
Hot for Teacher – Mutoid Man
It’s about time for Back-To-School shopping! It’s also time for bad attitude and unrequited misdirected hormones for your teacher, courtesy of heavy metal. Check out Gina Gleason on guitar!
Click HERE to learn more about Generation Equality Forum.
Thank god Saype finally gets to go to the beach! – after hanging around in those dreadful Swiss Alps painting on the side of a grass-covered mountain, he can finally get some surf. The “Beyond Walls” project takes him now to Rio de Janeiro, where his tenth stage of the campaign addresses those who take treacherous journeys via oceans, and some never return.
“To feel again the desperate embrace of those who saw them drift away forever… from African origin to American destination, from light to night, from freedom to slavery,” he says
The multi-stage global artwork is revealed in pieces as the land/street artist travels the globe. He recognizes the divisions between people and actively proposes a message of unity through his biodegradable paintings.
“Between the postcard image of Copacabana, which nevertheless bears the tragic marks of history, and the favela, the gigantic hands of ‘Beyond Walls’ strive to overcome the fractures of the past as well as those that are still very present,” says his press release. “They remind us that it is only through cooperation that walls fall down and that the universal becomes a reality: ‘the universal is the local minus the walls’ – a quote from Miguel Torga.”
“I just unveiled a new artwork in the Swiss Alps, in Villars-sur-Ollon,” Saype tells us when talking about the new 2500 m2 painting on a high grassy elevation. “’Vers l’équilibre’” (Towards balance) depicts a little girl forming a cairn on a pile of books.”
Massive pieces like this by Saype merge muralism and land art, a hybrid that is not common even now. It may be shocking for some people to see until they learn that the materials used are not harmful to the environment, and are biodegradable. Here the final image is still best seen from a drone perhaps, but if you are hiking near the summit of the Grand Chamossaire mountain, above the alpine resort of Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland, you too may find the right angle for a view.
Today we go to Belfast to see the latest installation of the “Beyond Walls” campaign of large-scale artworks by the French-Swiss street/land artist Saype,
Created across the front lawns of the Parliament Buildings in Stormont, Belfast, the biodegradable artwork measures 45m by 240m. Each of the large-scale works has had individual features, whether they appeared in places like Ouagadougou, Paris, Geneva, or Dubai. Joining a 30-city list across five continents, this installations’ local touch comes from actual Belfast hands as models.
His dedication to this multi-year project speaks to the determination of the project, as well as its appeal and willing financial backers to spread this message of eco-friendly art and world unity. “One of my aims is to not only shed light on issues of social transformation,” says Saype, “but to promote eco-friendly and sustainable methods of creating art through respecting nature.”
Most would agree that the new artwork is best seen from a drone or plane. The work has been realized with support by the Embassy of Switzerland in the United Kingdom and is officially part of the Belfast Photo Festival (June 2-30, 2022)
“It was the very first time that I painted on a rooftop!,” says French-Swiss land artists Saype. It was so amazing.”
In a project commissioned for the “Urbain.es” exhibition curated by Magda Danysz, the large scale sprayer appears to be following a thread in Le Parc Barbieux in the south of France. “It was a beautiful opportunity to create an artwork and to create link between people there,” he says.
Saype. “Un tissu social”. For urbain.es exhibition curated by Magda Danysz and executed on the Rooftop at La Condition Publique. Roubaix, France. (Valentin Flauraud for Saype)Saype. “Un tissu social”. For urbain.es exhibition curated by Magda Danysz and executed on the Rooftop at La Condition Publique. Roubaix, France. (Valentin Flauraud for Saype)Saype. “Un tissu social”. For urbain.es exhibition curated by Magda Danysz and executed on the Rooftop at La Condition Publique. Roubaix, France. (Valentin Flauraud for Saype)Saype. “Un tissu social”. For urbain.es exhibition curated by Magda Danysz and executed on the Rooftop at La Condition Publique. Roubaix, France. (Valentin Flauraud for Saype)Saype. “Un tissu social”. For urbain.es exhibition curated by Magda Danysz and executed on the Rooftop at La Condition Publique. Roubaix, France. (Valentin Flauraud for Saype)Saype. “Un tissu social”. For urbain.es exhibition curated by Magda Danysz and executed at Barbieux Park. Roubaix, France. (Valentin Flauraud for Saype)
Because the photos from each installation are always so good, here is the latest installment by French-Swiss artist Saype, who is featuring his giant biodegradable landart painting on a floating barge in Venice.
The piece, part of his “Beyond Walls” global human chain, will travel in and around Venice during the Biennale Arte 2022 59th International Art Exhibition. It’s good to see that the artist is still staying true to his commitment to keeping his artworks and his materials biodegradable, unlike so many commercial products sold in stores today by multinationals that end up polluting our air, water, and soil. So many companies try to use others to “artwash” their images these days, so we know a number of artists who are acutely aware of this possibility and actively avoid it.
Now in Dubai for the Expo 2020 World Exhibition, the artist is supported by his home country of Switzerland to create this 1500 square meter image of unity. This installation, his 11th of the series, was completed on October 28th, and of course was created with biodegradable paint using charcoal, chalk, water, and milk proteins.
Completing a cross Atlantic bookending of public artworks that few ever could, the French-Swiss artist Saype was at the UN this week for the General Assembly meeting – and to complete a project he began at the UN in Geneva.
Entitled “World in Progress” representing two children drawing their ideal world, his new piece answers visually the one he completed – using the north Lawn of the U.N. headquarters to paint his 11,000 square meter celebration of the U.N.’s 75th Anniversary. Naturally, the fresco uses biodegradable paint. Saype says he hopes the work will appeal to the world leaders who are joined here in New York for their annual round of speaking and “Remind them that they must not lose sight of the luminous ideal of peace between nations – hand in hand with the preservation of their environmental world heritage.”
“Giant ephemeral landart painting by Swiss French artist Saype entitled ‘World in Progress’ representing two children drawing their ideal world, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, June 24, 2020. The artwork covering 6000 square meters was produced with biodegradable paints made from natural pigments such as coal and chalk. The fresco, offered by Switzerland, for the the 75th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Charter in San Francisco on 26.6.1945 will be inaugurated by Swiss Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, in the presence of the Director-General of the United Nations Office in Geneva, Tatiana Valovaya.”
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