This week BSA is checking out French Polynesia to get an appreciation for the Street Art, graffiti and street scene here while the 5th Annual ONO’U is taking place. Join in the tropical action while we take you to Tahiti, Raiatea, Bora Bora, and Moorea to see the artists and the action.
Feeling blue in Tahiti even though you are surrounded by banana, mango, papaya, coconut, and pomegranate trees each offering the wild fruits of the island? Impossible.
Cranio. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Yes, you are blue if you are one of Cranio’s characters, who remind us with a jolt that indigenous people of many shapes, sizes, and costume traveled and organized life on this earth long before we arrived.
With many ties to traditional costume and customs despite French Polynesia’s history of colonization, we have witnessed that there is an evident level of respect for native ways here across these islands as well.
Cranio. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
With bright blue guys that have red eye bands across the face, these characters were originally based on indigenous people from his native Brazil and Cranio brings them with him wherever he goes to city streets, galleries, museums, and private collections throughout the world. Appearing suddenly on the street, he places them in curious situations that personify the cultural confusion that happens in the contemporary world that hasn’t allowed for traditional ways.
Here in Raiatea he converts a set of double doors into the entryway to a tree trunk, a fantasy world that you want to be true. Painting for two decades, Cranio’s semi-surreal settings have an adventurer’s sense of play for his blue buddies to explore and cavort in – yet they gently/pointedly poke fun at social, political and environmental weaknesses in the Euro-centric world.
Cranio. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cranio. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cranio. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cranio. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cranio with Charles Williams on the background. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cranio. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cranio. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cranio. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cranio. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cranio. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cranio. ONO’U Tahiti 2018 / Raiatea. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Other Articles You May Like from BSA:
A ubiquitous sight throughout large cities like New York, the graffiti covered box truck has inherited the all-city art mantle from the subway train cars of thirty years ago with eye-popping collabora...
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities. Now screening : 1. Hyrtis Animates David Bowie and "Life in Mars" 2. Jorge Rodriguez-Gerarda. "Grounded Gratit...
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities. Now screening : 1. Swoon and The Heliotrope Foundation: A Catalyst For Local Change2. One Minute Dance: Petite...
Looks like Biancoshock is feeling a little nostalgic for his wall-hopping days with this simple ladder made of aerosol paint cans. When talking about the graffiti and Street Art scene it is ...
A very long stream of books replaced the cars here in the Netherlands, thanks to Luzinterruptus, the Madrid-based anonymous collective who have been spreading light and activism for 15 years in citie...