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.”
Staring at clouds and seeing images is Mother Nature’s Rorschach test about how one sees life’s possibilities; revealing winged angels and horned devils, a ship on the high seas, a milk maiden’s profile, a fire-breathing dragon.
French-Swiss land artist Saype has had plenty of time recently to contemplate the clouds while painting on a grassy mountain and he thinks our vision of the future is reaching a point of clarity, despite our current seemingly cloudy perspective.
The rising, lushly green summit of Moleson-sur-Gruyeres in Switzerland can do that to you.
The artist’s newest ephemeral simulacrum depicts what appears as a child blowing clouds toward the horizon. He calls it “un nouveau souffle” (“a new breath”), he says, and he uses the framing of the majestic Friborg Pre-Alps to give flight to this novel fancy.
Seen on land from a great distance and especially when flying above, the new 1500 square meter fresco is of biodegradable pigments made out of charcoal, chalk, water, and milk proteins.
With time, this vision will fade. Hopefully, our ability to imagine stories, fancies, and promising futures will not.
“The ‘Beyond Walls’ project aims at creating the largest symbolic human chain around the world, promoting values such as togetherness, kindness and openness to the world,” say organizers of this project that has its tenth stop in this historic site of the tragic slave trade. With five frescoes in total, he painted four of them in the floating village of Ganvie, which was at one time a refuge from slave capture raids.
Additionally his is painting a fifth fresco by the ocean in the village of Abouta) in the Ouidah district, he says, “the beach that saw millions of slaves sent off across the Atlantic.”
This is the 10th step of the project for the land artist Saype. He says that after nearly two years he has visited 3 continents and 37 people have helped paint 77,300 square meters with biodegradable paint.
Three frescoes in Sea Point, Cape Town, South Africa are the latest installments of hands and arms joined with one another for the French large-scale land artist Saype.
The pieces are created in Sea Point (6000 m²), the Philippi township (800 m²) and the Langa township (800 m²) and together represent the 9th stop on his worldwide “Beyond Walls” project.
Given the crises that the world is experiencing with the Covid-19 pandemic and the historic divisions in South Africa, Saype says he chose to present a fraternal vision in these three neighborhoods of Cape Town.
Project organizers say “The current crisis reinforces Saype’s optimistic will to present these universal frescos of benevolence and togetherness,” even though he knows that it may represent, “a modest contribution to reunite a city whose historic scars have not yet healed.” Recognizing that the society is still striving to recover from the dark time of apartheid, here is an artist who is using his talents to help heal wounds.
Just finished on January 21, organizers say that the three frescoes were created using approximately 1000 liters of biodegradable pigments made out of charcoal, chalk, water and milk proteins.
This project is carried out in collaboration with the Embassy of Switzerland in South Africa, the International Public Art Festival, Baz-Art and the City of Cape Town.
“I think that we are in a moment of
humanity when the world is becoming polarized and part of the population is
choosing to withdraw into itself,” he says. So symbolically he is spraying
massive patches of grass with images of hands joined in cities across the world
– including Paris, Andorre, Geneva, Berlin, Ouagadougou, Yamoussoukro, and
Turin.
Today we take you to his latest
installation of three clasped hands in Istanbul, particularly symbolic because
it is at the precipice of so-called East and West. He says that since he would
like his monumental works to be bridges painted between cultures, the city of
Istanbul constitutes an essential stage, at the crossroads of the worlds between
the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
“Istanbul is really on two
continents between Europe and Asia,” he says, “and it’s amazing because we’re
going to be able to connect the two here. We made three frescoes; a fresco on
the European side, a floating barge covered with grass that will cross the
Bosphorus, and a fresco on the Asian continent in Beykoz.”
The three
frescoes were created using biodegradable pigments and included one artwork at Bogazici
University (2500 m2) on the European side of the country, a second
one was created in the Beykoz district (1600 m2) on the Asian side
and the two of them were linked by an artwork painted on a floating barge in
the Golden Horn of the Bosphorus (2200 m2). Valentin Flauraud stood
in for Saype at the barge.
The work
carried out in Istanbul was benefitted by support from the Istanbul
Metropolitan Municipality, Kültür A.Ş, the Municipality of Beşiktaş, the
Boğaziçi University, the Consulate General of Switzerland, the French Institute
in Turkey and UPS.
“I am convinced that it is only
together that humanity will be able to respond to the biggest challenges it
will have to overcome them.”
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