My Right To Breath

Fighting for basic human rights is quite an understatement for the Beiruti in me.  From the right to health, education, water, electricity – not to mention basic women and people with challenges’ rights for equality – the list is endless and has literally become a survival roadmap for any local.  Yet one basic and global human right transcends it all: the right to breathe.  Splash and Burn and Greenpeace Malaysia have something to say about that.

Pangrok Sulap

Originally developed as an awareness campaign to bring attention to the unregulated farming practices of Palm Oil in Indonesia, Splash and Burn has partnered in the past year with Greenpeace to put on the map the key issue of transboundary haze.

Haze is an air-borne mixture of pollutants which include dust, carbon dioxide and other toxic gases.  It comes from natural sources such as wildfires, but also from manmade sources that include motor vehicles, electric utility, industrial fuel burning and manufacturing operations.  Particles from haze pollution contribute to acid rain formation which can make lakes, rivers and streams unsuitable for fish, thus damaging sensitive ecosystems, while some of the air pollutants are toxic and harmful to human health.

Dangerous haze levels occur during the dry season in some Southeast Asian nations with the rise of the southwest monsoon.  This compelled the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to sign in 2002 an agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution in an effort to reduce haze pollution.

Ernest Zacharevic

Twenty-one years later, and with the catastrophic increase of the transboundary haze pollution, Splash and Burn joined forces with Greenpeace in an effort to creatively bring awareness to the matter and demand accountability from major polluters.  Their objective is to present a petition at the upcoming ASEAN meeting due to take place in June 2023 in Singapore.  While the purpose of the scheduled June ASEAN meeting is to develop a new roadmap for the original 2002 Agreement, Splash and Burn and Greenpeace are aiming with their petition to have the protection of the right to clean air written into law.

Curated by Lithuanian Artist Ernest Zacharevic and coordinated by Creative Director Charlotte Pyatt, Splash and Burn has collaborated with incredible talents through the past years, offering a creative platform for organizations fighting for positive change – and this current initiative is no different.  Indeed and over the past year, five interventions took place with Ernest and a South East Asian roster of talent including Cloackwork, Pangrok Sulap, Kai Yi Wong, Fahmi Reza, Trina Teoh, Trexus, Asia Ballet Theatre and Bibichun, all culminating into an exhibition earlier this year that was held in Kuala Lumpur, hosting an impressive panel of artists, filmmakers, and activists while sharing educational and creative workshops.

This took place in par with a series of panel discussions moderated by Environmental activist Melissa Tan, while long time collaborators Studio Birthplace premiered a new short film “Haze-illa” that touched on corporate greed and environmental destruction.  “We hope this film will serve as a catalyst for change, inspiring viewers to speak up and demand a more sustainable future” explains Studio Birthplace.

Fahmi Reza

It is a known fact that the purpose of art is to provoke, in an effort to create a change of some sorts.  This is what the producers of this event are hoping for.  Following a landmark complaint from Greenpeace with the Human Rights commission in December 2021, this creative initiative is indeed seeking legislative change through the enactment of a Transboundary Haze Pollution Act, or Clean Air Act to hold polluters to account. The issue is now with experts pending a review that will issue new policy recommendations to the Malaysian Government.

Cloakwork

“We need a Transboundary Haze Pollution Act so that it can provide legal grounds to institutionalize checks and balances to ensure that Malaysian companies are not contributing to haze locally and abroad” said Heng, Greenpeace Malaysia’s lead campaigner.

Pipe dreams?  Ironic play of words considering the subject matter.  Yet this is not what Ernest Zcharevic thinks.  “We want to encourage conversation and creative intervention to inspire action. Talking with a friend or family member or posting on socials is better than silence, we want to keep the issue present so that those responsible are held to account”, he says.

For at the end of the day, it all boils down to properly communicating the message and creating out-of-the-box, provocative, and original artistic awareness so we may all be mindful of the situation, even if we live on a different continent, even if we live in downtown Beirut.

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The post My Right To Breath first appeared on street art united states.
by Myriam Shwayri via street art united states

My Right To Breath

Fighting for basic human rights is quite an understatement for the Beiruti in me.  From the right to health, education, water, electricity – not to mention basic women and people with challenges’ rights for equality – the list is endless and has literally become a survival roadmap for any local.  Yet one basic and global human right transcends it all: the right to breathe.  Splash and Burn and Greenpeace Malaysia have something to say about that.

Pangrok Sulap

Originally developed as an awareness campaign to bring attention to the unregulated farming practices of Palm Oil in Indonesia, Splash and Burn has partnered in the past year with Greenpeace to put on the map the key issue of transboundary haze.

Haze is an air-borne mixture of pollutants which include dust, carbon dioxide and other toxic gases.  It comes from natural sources such as wildfires, but also from manmade sources that include motor vehicles, electric utility, industrial fuel burning and manufacturing operations.  Particles from haze pollution contribute to acid rain formation which can make lakes, rivers and streams unsuitable for fish, thus damaging sensitive ecosystems, while some of the air pollutants are toxic and harmful to human health.

Dangerous haze levels occur during the dry season in some Southeast Asian nations with the rise of the southwest monsoon.  This compelled the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to sign in 2002 an agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution in an effort to reduce haze pollution.

Ernest Zacharevic

Twenty-one years later, and with the catastrophic increase of the transboundary haze pollution, Splash and Burn joined forces with Greenpeace in an effort to creatively bring awareness to the matter and demand accountability from major polluters.  Their objective is to present a petition at the upcoming ASEAN meeting due to take place in June 2023 in Singapore.  While the purpose of the scheduled June ASEAN meeting is to develop a new roadmap for the original 2002 Agreement, Splash and Burn and Greenpeace are aiming with their petition to have the protection of the right to clean air written into law.

Curated by Lithuanian Artist Ernest Zacharevic and coordinated by Creative Director Charlotte Pyatt, Splash and Burn has collaborated with incredible talents through the past years, offering a creative platform for organizations fighting for positive change – and this current initiative is no different.  Indeed and over the past year, five interventions took place with Ernest and a South East Asian roster of talent including Cloackwork, Pangrok Sulap, Kai Yi Wong, Fahmi Reza, Trina Teoh, Trexus, Asia Ballet Theatre and Bibichun, all culminating into an exhibition earlier this year that was held in Kuala Lumpur, hosting an impressive panel of artists, filmmakers, and activists while sharing educational and creative workshops.

This took place in par with a series of panel discussions moderated by Environmental activist Melissa Tan, while long time collaborators Studio Birthplace premiered a new short film “Haze-illa” that touched on corporate greed and environmental destruction.  “We hope this film will serve as a catalyst for change, inspiring viewers to speak up and demand a more sustainable future” explains Studio Birthplace.

Fahmi Reza

It is a known fact that the purpose of art is to provoke, in an effort to create a change of some sorts.  This is what the producers of this event are hoping for.  Following a landmark complaint from Greenpeace with the Human Rights commission in December 2021, this creative initiative is indeed seeking legislative change through the enactment of a Transboundary Haze Pollution Act, or Clean Air Act to hold polluters to account. The issue is now with experts pending a review that will issue new policy recommendations to the Malaysian Government.

Cloakwork

“We need a Transboundary Haze Pollution Act so that it can provide legal grounds to institutionalize checks and balances to ensure that Malaysian companies are not contributing to haze locally and abroad” said Heng, Greenpeace Malaysia’s lead campaigner.

Pipe dreams?  Ironic play of words considering the subject matter.  Yet this is not what Ernest Zcharevic thinks.  “We want to encourage conversation and creative intervention to inspire action. Talking with a friend or family member or posting on socials is better than silence, we want to keep the issue present so that those responsible are held to account”, he says.

For at the end of the day, it all boils down to properly communicating the message and creating out-of-the-box, provocative, and original artistic awareness so we may all be mindful of the situation, even if we live on a different continent, even if we live in downtown Beirut.

---

 

The post My Right To Breath first appeared on street art united states.
by Myriam Shwayri via street art united states

THE CAP THAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

It has caused a furor on social media due to a particular feature: a cap that incorporates a red tab that allows you to regulate the width of your stroke. This tool, in that it emulates the release of a paint pulverizer, has been designed for professional purposes, yet graffiti writers have been the first to show interest in it.

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As a response to the demands of the professional sector, we present the Trasnversal Variator Cap, an adjustable transversal stroke nozzle that combines two technologies: Its stroke imitates that of a paint gun, but it also includes a red tab that allows you to adjust its thickness between 4 and 9 cm. Thus, this innovative diffuser synthesizes the Transversal Varnish Cap and the Transversal Fat Cap in a single piece, hence being specially designed for uses such as …

• Painting of car bodies
• Painting of elements with paints or products that require several thin layers
• Varnishing of surfaces

What is more, it is sure to become a tool for experimentation in the world of graffiti. https://ift.tt/3VznA2r

As you may have noticed, the coarse finger pressure area is in the shape of the Montana Colors logo. This is because it is the first MTN nozzle manufactured exclusively by our brand.

by mtn-world via Montana World

“DC Walls” Brings Further Intrigue to NoMa: Luther Wright, Stevie Shao, Grace, Jarus, Nicole Bourgea and Tommii Lin

On our recent visit to DC, we came upon several tantalizing new murals that had surfaced within the past few months at the DC Walls Festival in the ever-evolving NoMa (North of Massachusetts Avenue) neighborhood. The  mural pictured above — featuring a jazz musicians trio and a portrait inspired by AP*ART — was painted by DC-based artist and activist Luther Wright. Several more images captured while exploring NoMa follow:

Seattle-based Chinese-American illustrator and muralist Stevie Shao

Masterful graffiti writer and photorealistic painter Grace

The itinerant Canadian-born muralist Emmanuel Jarus

DC area muralist Nicole Bourgea

LA-based artist Tommi Lin, now on a 2023 International Mural Tour

Photos by Lois Stavsky

by lois via Street Art NYC

Nuart Aberdeen ‘23 Line-up Revealed

Nuart Aberdeen is back in full force this year with yet another stellar line up to grace the streets of Scotland’s “Granite City.” The theme for this year’s festival is “Rewilding,” a subject that touches on many issues related to “Trespass and Transgression,” a topic extensively explored by the ingenious Nuart Journal associates during the past year.

“As anyone who knows me will profess, getting quotes from me is like getting blood from a stone – not because I have anything particular against quotes, and I’m aware it’s possibly some deep-seated insecurity about the value of my ideas – but looking at this year’s program I couldn’t be happier, so here it is. I guess it’s testament to the hard work from all involved and the welcome that Aberdeen’s citizens have given to Nuart these past years, that without exception, everyone we reach out to says, yes, they’d love to come to the city. Word has spread, and continues to do so, about just what an incredibly unique and authentic city and project we’ve created together. And in spite of greater societal issues and the challenges faced by the high street, we hope to continue contributing to shifting things, however incrementally, towards a richer, fairer and more inclusive relationship to art and culture. Maybe there is some value in this after all, so maybe there’ll be more quotes going forwards. On behalf of the team, I’d like to take the opportunity to thank each and every one of those that continue to support this initiative – we can’t wait to get started on 2023.” – Martyn Reed, Nuart Director.

Aida Wilde

Snik

Among the artists contributing to this year’s festival is Aida Wilde, an Iranian-born, London-based printmaker/visual artist and educator. Wilde’s predominantly screen-printed installations and social commentary posters have been featured on city streets around the world and are responsive commentary works on gentrification, education and equality.

The brilliant UK based duo SNIK will bring their creative genius to Nuart Aberdeen for the third time. The internationally-acclaimed pair combine the creation of hand-cut, multilayered stencils with haunting, ethereal portraiture, born from a male/female dual perspective. This traditional-craft, progressive-ethos approach has seen SNIK commissioned on a hugely diverse array of walls the world over.

KMG

With Nuart’s support, Scottish artist KMG lifted Aberdonian spirits during the pandemic by adding her raw yet playful creations to the walls of her native city. She describes her own work as “a weird combination of youthful enthusiasm mixed with utter cynicism.” She will be participating in this year’s festival, so watch this space for her next Nuart Aberdeen creation! It is bound to turn heads.

Spanish artist ESCIF is based in Valencia, where he started painting graffiti in 1996 before progressing to murals. His work portrays social criticism in a minimalist and elegant way, and always with a message designed to rouse the public. His work is usually considered to exist on a border between popular and conceptual art.
This artist in particular implores people to look beyond the pure aesthetic of his work and to focus on the social message of his pieces.

Globally renowned French duo MURMURE (Paul Ressencourt and Simon Roche) work on a human scale with an acute eye for placement. Their collages create singular urban scenes by interacting with their specific location and, while often ephemeral, their scale and accessibility to the passerby imbue them with great substance.

Best known for his décollage covers of the Sex Pistols’ albums, British artist JAMIE REID is a self-described anarchist. Reid’s cover art helped define the aesthetic of the British punk movement through its faux-ransom-note letters and iconoclastic defacements of pop culture and nationalistic images.

Murmure

Manolo Mesa

Spanish artist MANOLO MESA describes himself as a street-art “poet,” curious about people and the world, he believes that one’s attitude and resilience create one’s identity. His painting is often a study of encounter and loneliness. An iconography of the absurdity of existence which goes beyond the physical. He is interested in the symbol of a painting, the metaphysical silence in which the past intertwines with the present.

UK based Polish artist NESPOON is on a mission to embroider the world! She enriches the already diverse urban art with her own unique brand of lace art. By using intricate doily patterns, the artist beautifies abandoned and unadorned spaces in unlikely urban jungles, transforming them into stunning works of art. Her process is based on an almost forgotten tradition of doily making. Always working with respect for the spot and the particular local context, NeSpoon finds her inspiration in the local textile traditions. By choosing an art form associated with women, she celebrates its femininity and harmony it creates.

Stanley Donwood

British artist STANLEY DONWOOD will also be contributing to Nuart Aderdeen this year. This artist’s work is diverse, from designing Radiohead’s album covers and book covers for JG Ballard’s novels, to art directing a film about nuclear weapons, writing numerous short stories and creating artwork for Glastonbury Festival.

American artist SWOON is a Brooklyn-based street and studio artist known for her large-scale paper cut works and life-size installations.
The majority of Swoon’s work consists of intricate and delicate paper-cut portraits which are generally based on the people she met throughout her life. Swoon’s paper cuts pieces are just as well transient as they are not made with spray paint on walls like most street artists. Even though most of them survive for months, some may remain visible for just a couple of minutes. Fingers crossed that her works in Aberdeen will have a healthy lifespan and will be enjoyed by many.

Portuguese visual artist and illustrator TAMARA ALVES prefers to ignore conventional spaces such as galleries or museums and present her work in the street or in public spaces. She presents the erotic panorama of a contemporary body in her work. Her visual language is inspired by the urban aesthetic, she uses media with multifaceted characteristics – drawing, painting, ceramics and tattooing.

Tamara Alves

Eloise Gillow

Barcelona based British artist ELOISE GILLOW is trained in classical realism, and her imagery is drawn from her surroundings, capturing subtle gestures in body language and movement. She is motivated by the direct connection between her artwork and the surrounding communities. Her imagery invites the viewer to reflect on where and how they find vitality and to reach into a deeper undercurrent of connection to each other, and the natural world.

Thiago Mazza

Self-taught Brazilian artist THIAGO MAZZA first started graffiti writing in 2010 before progressing to painting murals. He’s known in the contemporary urban art scene for his mastery in the representation of fauna and flora. His current subject of studies are tropical plants, their exuberant structure and dense foliage. His work dialogues with classical painting, street art and contemporary art. Thiago Mazza brings nature within him, the ingenuity to transmute it and the art of taking us to it.

Nuart is extremely honored to bring this huge wealth of talent to Scotland and share the topical “Rewilding” focused works of this year’s festival with the people of Aberdeen.

The festival organizers hope these artists will add something to the urban art conversation, both in Aberdeen and on the international stage.

Nuart Aberdeen runs from June 8-11th 2023

The post Nuart Aberdeen ‘23 Line-up Revealed first appeared on street art united states.
by Hannah Judah via street art united states

Nuart Aberdeen ‘23 Line-up Revealed

Nuart Aberdeen is back in full force this year with yet another stellar line up to grace the streets of Scotland’s “Granite City.” The theme for this year’s festival is “Rewilding,” a subject that touches on many issues related to “Trespass and Transgression,” a topic extensively explored by the ingenious Nuart Journal associates during the past year.

“As anyone who knows me will profess, getting quotes from me is like getting blood from a stone – not because I have anything particular against quotes, and I’m aware it’s possibly some deep-seated insecurity about the value of my ideas – but looking at this year’s program I couldn’t be happier, so here it is. I guess it’s testament to the hard work from all involved and the welcome that Aberdeen’s citizens have given to Nuart these past years, that without exception, everyone we reach out to says, yes, they’d love to come to the city. Word has spread, and continues to do so, about just what an incredibly unique and authentic city and project we’ve created together. And in spite of greater societal issues and the challenges faced by the high street, we hope to continue contributing to shifting things, however incrementally, towards a richer, fairer and more inclusive relationship to art and culture. Maybe there is some value in this after all, so maybe there’ll be more quotes going forwards. On behalf of the team, I’d like to take the opportunity to thank each and every one of those that continue to support this initiative – we can’t wait to get started on 2023.” – Martyn Reed, Nuart Director.

Aida Wilde

Snik

Among the artists contributing to this year’s festival is Aida Wilde, an Iranian-born, London-based printmaker/visual artist and educator. Wilde’s predominantly screen-printed installations and social commentary posters have been featured on city streets around the world and are responsive commentary works on gentrification, education and equality.

The brilliant UK based duo SNIK will bring their creative genius to Nuart Aberdeen for the third time. The internationally-acclaimed pair combine the creation of hand-cut, multilayered stencils with haunting, ethereal portraiture, born from a male/female dual perspective. This traditional-craft, progressive-ethos approach has seen SNIK commissioned on a hugely diverse array of walls the world over.

KMG

With Nuart’s support, Scottish artist KMG lifted Aberdonian spirits during the pandemic by adding her raw yet playful creations to the walls of her native city. She describes her own work as “a weird combination of youthful enthusiasm mixed with utter cynicism.” She will be participating in this year’s festival, so watch this space for her next Nuart Aberdeen creation! It is bound to turn heads.

Spanish artist ESCIF is based in Valencia, where he started painting graffiti in 1996 before progressing to murals. His work portrays social criticism in a minimalist and elegant way, and always with a message designed to rouse the public. His work is usually considered to exist on a border between popular and conceptual art.
This artist in particular implores people to look beyond the pure aesthetic of his work and to focus on the social message of his pieces.

Globally renowned French duo MURMURE (Paul Ressencourt and Simon Roche) work on a human scale with an acute eye for placement. Their collages create singular urban scenes by interacting with their specific location and, while often ephemeral, their scale and accessibility to the passerby imbue them with great substance.

Best known for his décollage covers of the Sex Pistols’ albums, British artist JAMIE REID is a self-described anarchist. Reid’s cover art helped define the aesthetic of the British punk movement through its faux-ransom-note letters and iconoclastic defacements of pop culture and nationalistic images.

Murmure

Manolo Mesa

Spanish artist MANOLO MESA describes himself as a street-art “poet,” curious about people and the world, he believes that one’s attitude and resilience create one’s identity. His painting is often a study of encounter and loneliness. An iconography of the absurdity of existence which goes beyond the physical. He is interested in the symbol of a painting, the metaphysical silence in which the past intertwines with the present.

UK based Polish artist NESPOON is on a mission to embroider the world! She enriches the already diverse urban art with her own unique brand of lace art. By using intricate doily patterns, the artist beautifies abandoned and unadorned spaces in unlikely urban jungles, transforming them into stunning works of art. Her process is based on an almost forgotten tradition of doily making. Always working with respect for the spot and the particular local context, NeSpoon finds her inspiration in the local textile traditions. By choosing an art form associated with women, she celebrates its femininity and harmony it creates.

Stanley Donwood

British artist STANLEY DONWOOD will also be contributing to Nuart Aderdeen this year. This artist’s work is diverse, from designing Radiohead’s album covers and book covers for JG Ballard’s novels, to art directing a film about nuclear weapons, writing numerous short stories and creating artwork for Glastonbury Festival.

American artist SWOON is a Brooklyn-based street and studio artist known for her large-scale paper cut works and life-size installations.
The majority of Swoon’s work consists of intricate and delicate paper-cut portraits which are generally based on the people she met throughout her life. Swoon’s paper cuts pieces are just as well transient as they are not made with spray paint on walls like most street artists. Even though most of them survive for months, some may remain visible for just a couple of minutes. Fingers crossed that her works in Aberdeen will have a healthy lifespan and will be enjoyed by many.

Portuguese visual artist and illustrator TAMARA ALVES prefers to ignore conventional spaces such as galleries or museums and present her work in the street or in public spaces. She presents the erotic panorama of a contemporary body in her work. Her visual language is inspired by the urban aesthetic, she uses media with multifaceted characteristics – drawing, painting, ceramics and tattooing.

Tamara Alves

Eloise Gillow

Barcelona based British artist ELOISE GILLOW is trained in classical realism, and her imagery is drawn from her surroundings, capturing subtle gestures in body language and movement. She is motivated by the direct connection between her artwork and the surrounding communities. Her imagery invites the viewer to reflect on where and how they find vitality and to reach into a deeper undercurrent of connection to each other, and the natural world.

Thiago Mazza

Self-taught Brazilian artist THIAGO MAZZA first started graffiti writing in 2010 before progressing to painting murals. He’s known in the contemporary urban art scene for his mastery in the representation of fauna and flora. His current subject of studies are tropical plants, their exuberant structure and dense foliage. His work dialogues with classical painting, street art and contemporary art. Thiago Mazza brings nature within him, the ingenuity to transmute it and the art of taking us to it.

Nuart is extremely honored to bring this huge wealth of talent to Scotland and share the topical “Rewilding” focused works of this year’s festival with the people of Aberdeen.

The festival organizers hope these artists will add something to the urban art conversation, both in Aberdeen and on the international stage.

Nuart Aberdeen runs from June 8-11th 2023

The post Nuart Aberdeen ‘23 Line-up Revealed first appeared on street art united states.
by Hannah Judah via street art united states

The Future Was Born Yesterday

Hitting fifty might be a brutal and rough rite of passage.  Some experiences seem incomplete, while others may have taken their toll and brutally accelerated our sinking into decrepitude.  Yet in this day and age, fifty is the new twenty and the creative transformation of Abidjan’s La Pyramide (Côte d’Ivoire) is simply a case in point.  To celebrate the marking of the 50^th anniversary of this iconic brutalist building and give it a new lease on life after a period of abandonment, the Plateau district of Abidjan, under the artistic leadership of Agency II.V.I turned to some of the most talented and vibrant local and international street artists. Katre and Dourone were among the six who answered the call.

Considered to be his largest performance to date over a wall that reaches a height of 64 meters, French artist Katre produced his architectural interpretation of La Pyramide through the use of his trademark approach to abandoned constructions.  By mixing a colorful and vibrant background with monochrome perspective drawings of his own pictures of the building, Katre wished to invite the viewer to step inside the triangle and imagine the space and the people who once inhabited it.  He toyed with the wedge-shaped graphic element that represents the building, like a ray of light refracting through a triangular prism dispersing into a splash of colors.  A vision reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon album cover which ironically, also celebrates its 50^th anniversary this year.  Katre played with the triangle element just like George Hardie did when designing the iconic Floyd’s album cover. “Triangles are symbols of ambition, and are redolent of pyramids, both cosmic and mad in equal measure”, Hardie had said of his design.  Cosmic indeed, as we witness the perfect alignment of the stars, brought together by this singular triangular shape.  Katre’s layering of bold black architectural lines over a splash of colors had always been his signature in an effort to rebuild forgotten spaces through art, and this form of communication is depicted yet again in the heart of Abidjian.  Between Katre’s contemporary animated art over a vibrant orange-ochre gradient prism to symbolize “renewal” and the 50-year old brutalist La Pyramide architecture, communication between two different worlds and eras simply becomes a communal rite of passage between a forgotten past, and a dynamic future.

Renewal.  Regeneration.  Rebirth.  The theme is at the heart of this project, Dourone explains.  The eclectic and self-taught Spanish-French couple, Fabio Lopez and Élodie Arshak completed in just ten days the highest mural in all of West Africa, using 63 colors but only a brush.  Abiding by Galeano’s Sentipensante movement, feeling with the head and thinking with the heart, Dourone’s art and image compositions have always reflected on everyday human behavior and human relationship with society, through a vivid combination of colors and pixels.  And this mural is no different.  Yet while the lower section of the mural portrays a young Ivorian man illustrated in the recognizable Dourone style, the upper part breaks away from what is traditionally expected from the duo and gives out a much bolder message.  Over a background of random duotone faces – men, women and children – stands out a colorful and vibrant young girl.  While the young man in the lower part seems to be confidently heading into the future, the younger girl on the other hand stops in the present and looks back at us, intently, deeply, with confidence and resolve.  “This is our vision of Africa: a young, dynamic and constantly evolving continent where the present and the future are juxtaposed, and the future is through this girl, a bearer of strength and determination.”  Their mural is rightly entitled, The World of Tomorrow.

“For tomorrow is already born!” Otto Lemon, the artistic director behind this creative initiative passionately shares with Elisabeth Saad, his partner at Agency II.V.I.  Ivorian by birth and architecture aficionado by passion, Otto wanted more than anything to put the African continent on the international architectural map.  Dotted with some remarkable constructions, Africa had experienced an avant-gardist era with La Pyramide which was constructed between 1968 and 1973 by the Italian architect Rinaldo Olivieri, in collaboration with the Ivorian architect Raymond Aka-Adjo.  Exhibited at New York’s MOMA in the 70s and 80s, the recognizable African building was not only considered a Brutalist architecture gem, but a bioclimatic architecture innovation as well with the use of horizontal slats to cover all window panes, thus avoiding the greenhouse effect in a tropical environment.

“Africa is strong.  It is the future” Dourone affirms.  A future that can only be born out of the close collaboration between local and international artists, new and older generations – people from different strokes, backgrounds, traditions and ages.  As such, and with the support of the Abidjian Plateau Town Hall and the Ministries of Construction, Urbanism, Culture and Francophonie, Otto and Elisabeth turned the brutal monochrome past into a hue of colors, creating a prism through La Pyramide, a human communion that can only be the catalyst for an exciting future.  For indeed, Dourone and Katre not only joined forces with artists and architects like Issa Diabaté, Amah Cynthia Dongo, Pascal Konan, and Annick Lia, but they also collaborated with students from the National Institute of Fine Arts and youth from La Casa des Enfants, a local orphanage.

Hitting fifty might be a brutal and rough rite of passage.  It may be true for some.  But it is hardly the case for the visionaries among us who believe that the future was born fifty years ago, today.

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Dourone: website | instagram
Katre: website | instagram
Pyramide2023: instagram

The post The Future Was Born Yesterday first appeared on street art united states.
by Myriam Shwayri via street art united states

Street Art at the Pyramid of Abidjan, Ivory Coast 2023

New colourful murals adorn the incredible Pyramid of Abidjan on the Ivory Coast. The Deux Cinq Un agency invited selected artists to work on the Pyramid of Abidjan, an architectural jewel of the Ivory Coast that was in disarray.

The celebration of art breathes new life into this emblematic monument of the brutalist and avant-garde movement of the 1970s, a significant piece by architect Olivieri Rinaldo. The symbolic tower has fallen into disuse for twenty years, and the project “Pyramid 2023, tomorrow is already born” aims to give it a second life for its 50th anniversary, curated by Otto Lemon and Elizabeth Saad.

This project welcomes Ivorian and international artists Issa DIABATÉ, KATRE, DOURONE, Pascal KONAN, Annick LIA, Amah Cynthia DONGO SETH ONE and Ezechiel Akpo Essis, the students from INSAAC.

Check out the new Pyramid of Abidjan below in all its glory …

Photo Credit Deux Cinq Un agency

The post Street Art at the Pyramid of Abidjan, Ivory Coast 2023 appeared first on GraffitiStreet.

by Donna via GraffitiStreet