NUART ABERDEEN 2023 ROUND UP

It’d been 4 years since my last Nuart Aberdeen experience, and this time I had the luxury of being on the scene prior to the festival starting in full.  This year’s festival theme was Rewilding, and as always, the line up of artists and speakers was impressive, as was their commitment to the exploration of the theme and their alignment to the core Nuart values as a whole.

Swoon

Swoon kicked the festival off with a special screening of her stop motion short film, ‘Cicada’ and a talk with her fellow New Yorker culture critic Carlo McCormick at the ‘Night at the Museum’ event.  Swoon came out of wheat-pasting retirement especially for Nuart Aberdeen and created a series of paper figures tucked away in old brick alcoves, seaport alleys and public green spaces in Aberdeen. I speak for many when I say that these were a joy to track down, and I did so with native Aberdonian street art hunter Lewis Duncan. From the volunteers and artist assistants to academics, festival organisers and of course the artists themselves, it is the human element to the festival that makes it such a success.

Prior to meeting Brazilian man-mountain and all round ray of light Thiago Mazza in the flesh, Nuart volunteer Tazzy showed me photos of the artist lost in conversation with Director of Aberdeen’s Cruickshank Botanic Garden during a visit he’d made there. Mazza’s passion for botany translates into all of this work, and his towering mural is surely the most vibrant and tropical in Aberdeen.

Nespoon

NeSpoon also drew upon local inspiration for her Nuart piece. The Polish artist met Evelyn currie from the Aberdonian Bon Accord Lace Group and used one of Evelyn’s lace projects as inspiration, depicting a Scottish thistle of course.

Tamara Alves

Tamara Alves’ mural was centred around Virginia Woolf quote, “Every flower seems to burn by itself” and was nestled among a cluster of pretty trees outside a block of flats; right on topic for the Rewilding theme of this year’s festival.

Nuart mainstays Snik produced one of their signature hand-cut, multilayered stencils creating an ethereal portrait; rewilding what used to be just a plain old car park.

French duo Murmure created a huge goldfish in a plastic bag mural entitled ‘Anarchy’ centred around human selfishness when it comes to facing the ugly truth of the environmental issues we all face. Murmure also created ‘Police Montée’ for the festival: a paste-up depicting two French policemen mounted on ostriches. Paste-ups, formed a large part of the festival. In addition to Swoon’s series, there was a city wide treasure hunt featuring a collection by Jamie Reid and Stanley Donwood, a mash-up wall featuring work from Aida Wilde, up-and-coming Norwegian artists to mention a few.

SNIK

Estonian anarcho-street art collective Stencibility exhibited their show, ’Hello Mister Police Officer’ at the The Print Room gallery forming part of the festival line up and local artist KMG worked with hundreds of local children to create a massive mural at Marischal College for the Chalk Don’t Chalk intervention, which may have just formed the world’s largest single chalk drawing.

Thiago Mazza

The Nuart International Street Art Conference held in Aberdeen Art Gallery  ran concurrently with the creation of the art and was packed full of talks, debates, and panel discussions from the leading academics and some of the most prominent voices in the urban art world today.

Issue 7 of Nuart Journal was exclusively launched during the conference: this latest issue contains 12 original articles, visual essays, and interviews, reflecting on the subversive power of TRESPASS, asking in what sense – if any – is unsanctioned art still an act of trespass?

The extra curricular activities saw festival director Martyn Reed take to the decks with F**K ART, LET’S DANCE and raise the roof at SPIN to conclude Nuart Aberdeen 2023. What a way to rewild Scotland’s granite city.

As the fellow festival organisers closed the books on the Aberdeen Festival this year, they asked Martyn Reed, ‘As the director and curator of Nuart, how did this year feel to you in comparison to others? What’s evolving, what’s new?’ 

Manolo Mesa

‘To be honest, it will be some time before I’ve processed everything about Nuart 2023,  in a lot of respect, when a Nuart “ends” , it’s very much the beginning for me. So I’ll let it settle, pick up the bills, enjoy the imagery and memories and hopefully come away with a sense of fulfillment. In saying that, I think that anyone involved in previous editions, would attest that there was something quite magical about this year. It really felt like we were a community of like-minded souls, that we caught and channeled something quite ancient and genuine and authentically human. Perhaps it was the rewilding theme, this yearning for something more than what the current system offers and how we’re forced to navigate it in order to put food on the table. I hope we managed to show some alternatives or triggered some thoughts around what this culture genuinely has to offer away from the glitz and the glamour, the novelty and the merch. Over the course of the production, I see deep and genuine friendships emerging, bonds forming that in some cases will last a lifetime. Apart from all the wonderful art, a genuinely interested public, the production and partners and all that goes into a Nuart edition, there are aspects of it that we’ll never know, the friendships and narratives and the seeds of ideas that are planted, new relationships to each other and to the world that are formed, this is the real story and value of what we all collectively create.

Murmure

There’s an old proverb I read some years ago, I think it was Indian in origin but I’m sure it spans many cultures, and I’m paraphrasing here, that said something like “The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.” , and it’s this that runs deeply through what we all produced this year and will hopefully continue to produce in our own beautifully rewilded and divergent manner for many years to come.

Nuart Alumni, we salute you !’ 

The post NUART ABERDEEN 2023 ROUND UP first appeared on street art united states.
by Hannah Judah via street art united states

NUART ABERDEEN 2023 ROUND UP

It’d been 4 years since my last Nuart Aberdeen experience, and this time I had the luxury of being on the scene prior to the festival starting in full.  This year’s festival theme was Rewilding, and as always, the line up of artists and speakers was impressive, as was their commitment to the exploration of the theme and their alignment to the core Nuart values as a whole.

Swoon

Swoon kicked the festival off with a special screening of her stop motion short film, ‘Cicada’ and a talk with her fellow New Yorker culture critic Carlo McCormick at the ‘Night at the Museum’ event.  Swoon came out of wheat-pasting retirement especially for Nuart Aberdeen and created a series of paper figures tucked away in old brick alcoves, seaport alleys and public green spaces in Aberdeen. I speak for many when I say that these were a joy to track down, and I did so with native Aberdonian street art hunter Lewis Duncan. From the volunteers and artist assistants to academics, festival organisers and of course the artists themselves, it is the human element to the festival that makes it such a success.

Prior to meeting Brazilian man-mountain and all round ray of light Thiago Mazza in the flesh, Nuart volunteer Tazzy showed me photos of the artist lost in conversation with Director of Aberdeen’s Cruickshank Botanic Garden during a visit he’d made there. Mazza’s passion for botany translates into all of this work, and his towering mural is surely the most vibrant and tropical in Aberdeen.

Nespoon

NeSpoon also drew upon local inspiration for her Nuart piece. The Polish artist met Evelyn currie from the Aberdonian Bon Accord Lace Group and used one of Evelyn’s lace projects as inspiration, depicting a Scottish thistle of course.

Tamara Alves

Tamara Alves’ mural was centred around Virginia Woolf quote, “Every flower seems to burn by itself” and was nestled among a cluster of pretty trees outside a block of flats; right on topic for the Rewilding theme of this year’s festival.

Nuart mainstays Snik produced one of their signature hand-cut, multilayered stencils creating an ethereal portrait; rewilding what used to be just a plain old car park.

French duo Murmure created a huge goldfish in a plastic bag mural entitled ‘Anarchy’ centred around human selfishness when it comes to facing the ugly truth of the environmental issues we all face. Murmure also created ‘Police Montée’ for the festival: a paste-up depicting two French policemen mounted on ostriches. Paste-ups, formed a large part of the festival. In addition to Swoon’s series, there was a city wide treasure hunt featuring a collection by Jamie Reid and Stanley Donwood, a mash-up wall featuring work from Aida Wilde, up-and-coming Norwegian artists to mention a few.

SNIK

Estonian anarcho-street art collective Stencibility exhibited their show, ’Hello Mister Police Officer’ at the The Print Room gallery forming part of the festival line up and local artist KMG worked with hundreds of local children to create a massive mural at Marischal College for the Chalk Don’t Chalk intervention, which may have just formed the world’s largest single chalk drawing.

Thiago Mazza

The Nuart International Street Art Conference held in Aberdeen Art Gallery  ran concurrently with the creation of the art and was packed full of talks, debates, and panel discussions from the leading academics and some of the most prominent voices in the urban art world today.

Issue 7 of Nuart Journal was exclusively launched during the conference: this latest issue contains 12 original articles, visual essays, and interviews, reflecting on the subversive power of TRESPASS, asking in what sense – if any – is unsanctioned art still an act of trespass?

The extra curricular activities saw festival director Martyn Reed take to the decks with F**K ART, LET’S DANCE and raise the roof at SPIN to conclude Nuart Aberdeen 2023. What a way to rewild Scotland’s granite city.

As the fellow festival organisers closed the books on the Aberdeen Festival this year, they asked Martyn Reed, ‘As the director and curator of Nuart, how did this year feel to you in comparison to others? What’s evolving, what’s new?’ 

Manolo Mesa

‘To be honest, it will be some time before I’ve processed everything about Nuart 2023,  in a lot of respect, when a Nuart “ends” , it’s very much the beginning for me. So I’ll let it settle, pick up the bills, enjoy the imagery and memories and hopefully come away with a sense of fulfillment. In saying that, I think that anyone involved in previous editions, would attest that there was something quite magical about this year. It really felt like we were a community of like-minded souls, that we caught and channeled something quite ancient and genuine and authentically human. Perhaps it was the rewilding theme, this yearning for something more than what the current system offers and how we’re forced to navigate it in order to put food on the table. I hope we managed to show some alternatives or triggered some thoughts around what this culture genuinely has to offer away from the glitz and the glamour, the novelty and the merch. Over the course of the production, I see deep and genuine friendships emerging, bonds forming that in some cases will last a lifetime. Apart from all the wonderful art, a genuinely interested public, the production and partners and all that goes into a Nuart edition, there are aspects of it that we’ll never know, the friendships and narratives and the seeds of ideas that are planted, new relationships to each other and to the world that are formed, this is the real story and value of what we all collectively create.

Murmure

There’s an old proverb I read some years ago, I think it was Indian in origin but I’m sure it spans many cultures, and I’m paraphrasing here, that said something like “The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.” , and it’s this that runs deeply through what we all produced this year and will hopefully continue to produce in our own beautifully rewilded and divergent manner for many years to come.

Nuart Alumni, we salute you !’ 

The post NUART ABERDEEN 2023 ROUND UP first appeared on street art united states.
by Hannah Judah via street art united states

LANDSCAPE X ARCHITECTURE X ART

From the Louvre, to El Prado or Rijksmuseum, fascinating constructions all over the world have safeguarded and preserved art for our pleasure. Yet inside such imposing art temples, one can often feel small, perchance disconnected. Confined to a closed space, albeit amazing from an architectural standpoint, we reach more often than not, a level of art saturation and tend to seek out the open spaces these fantastic museums have to offer, if only to catch our breath during our visit. It is no wonder that in the midst of these museums’ permanent collections, art exhibitions are often absorbed, dispersed, or even overlooked. For these reasons, and to preserve the “collective power of creative expression from leading artists, architects, and collectors”, Francis Greenburger, founder of Art Omi, announced earlier this month the development of Art Omi Pavilions that will invite visitors to explore 12 to 18 individual Pavilions which will display legacy stand-alone exhibitions of highly distinguished artists and collectors who will showcase their work in a setting that they control and design.

Founded in 1992, Art Omi is a not-for-profit arts center in Ghent, New York that includes the Sculpture and Architecture Park, a contemporary art gallery, arts education programming for all ages, and five distinct international residency programs in architecture, art, dance, music, and writing. Developed over a 120 acres Campus with communal spaces that include a converted 1830 farmhouse and a two-story converted barn, Art Omi seems to be the proper vehicle for Steiner’s philosophy of anthroposophy: a community where each grows individually and collectively, through and with the arts, and in tune with nature.

Pursuing that philosophy while preserving the amazing landscape of woodlands, meadows, and 360-degree Hudson Valley views, Art Omi announced earlier this month the development of Art Omi Pavilions under a unique concept that will cross landscape with architecture and art. Over a 190-acre site in Chatham, New York and thanks to a $5 Million grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, Art Omi Pavilions will invite up to 18 artists to develop each their own Pavilions or mini-museums, with their own vision and design. Each artist will thus collaborate with an architect of their choice, and the final structures will be part of the spectacular open rural landscape.

Omi Art Pavilions Site Plan

While art is an artist’s expression, architecture will be the form, and nature, always prevailing in beauty and perfection, will be the vessel. One can understand the concept as a triumvirate of such. An additional dimension comes to mind, though – a fourth dimension – for the catalyst for the interplay of such creativity lies within us, the spectators, the visitors of these Pavilions. Such is how I understood it and I find it to be the basis for developing an interesting Community within these open fields. A Community that will cross borders, according to Art Omi: “from arts education for our local Hudson Valley neighbors, to welcoming international visitors and artists-in-residence alike to find inspiration in the fields of the Sculpture & Architecture Park in Ghent, and now to providing a platform for established artists to shape their legacies with Art Omi Pavilions in Chatham, we are honored to be part of the artistic process at every stage of its lifecycle”, shares Ruth Adams, co-executive director of Art Omi along with JeremyAdams.

The anticipated groundbreaking of the site will take place in 2025, and the initial collaborators include   Alice Aycock,  Rakuko Naito and Tadaaki Kuwayama, Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA) and Torkwase Dyson .

“The creative vision, spirit, and holistic ‘gesamtkunstwerk’ qualities that distinguish a body of work created or assembled from a singular point-of-view over a lifetime,” is what Art Omi is aiming for with this unique concept, Francis Greenburger continues.

Gesamtkunstwerk. German for a total work of art. Different art forms that come together to create a single, whole and cohesive work. From opera, to arts and architecture, and now to Art Omi Pavilions, where the objective is to“ preserve the vision, spirit, and holistic Gesamtkunstwerk in a sustainable natural landscape“.

It is truly a combination of creative forces, bringing together artists, architects and collectors. A legacy of creative expression. A community.

The post LANDSCAPE X ARCHITECTURE X ART first appeared on street art united states.
by Myriam Shwayri via street art united states

LANDSCAPE X ARCHITECTURE X ART

From the Louvre, to El Prado or Rijksmuseum, fascinating constructions all over the world have safeguarded and preserved art for our pleasure. Yet inside such imposing art temples, one can often feel small, perchance disconnected. Confined to a closed space, albeit amazing from an architectural standpoint, we reach more often than not, a level of art saturation and tend to seek out the open spaces these fantastic museums have to offer, if only to catch our breath during our visit. It is no wonder that in the midst of these museums’ permanent collections, art exhibitions are often absorbed, dispersed, or even overlooked. For these reasons, and to preserve the “collective power of creative expression from leading artists, architects, and collectors”, Francis Greenburger, founder of Art Omi, announced earlier this month the development of Art Omi Pavilions that will invite visitors to explore 12 to 18 individual Pavilions which will display legacy stand-alone exhibitions of highly distinguished artists and collectors who will showcase their work in a setting that they control and design.

Founded in 1992, Art Omi is a not-for-profit arts center in Ghent, New York that includes the Sculpture and Architecture Park, a contemporary art gallery, arts education programming for all ages, and five distinct international residency programs in architecture, art, dance, music, and writing. Developed over a 120 acres Campus with communal spaces that include a converted 1830 farmhouse and a two-story converted barn, Art Omi seems to be the proper vehicle for Steiner’s philosophy of anthroposophy: a community where each grows individually and collectively, through and with the arts, and in tune with nature.

Pursuing that philosophy while preserving the amazing landscape of woodlands, meadows, and 360-degree Hudson Valley views, Art Omi announced earlier this month the development of Art Omi Pavilions under a unique concept that will cross landscape with architecture and art. Over a 190-acre site in Chatham, New York and thanks to a $5 Million grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, Art Omi Pavilions will invite up to 18 artists to develop each their own Pavilions or mini-museums, with their own vision and design. Each artist will thus collaborate with an architect of their choice, and the final structures will be part of the spectacular open rural landscape.

Omi Art Pavilions Site Plan

While art is an artist’s expression, architecture will be the form, and nature, always prevailing in beauty and perfection, will be the vessel. One can understand the concept as a triumvirate of such. An additional dimension comes to mind, though – a fourth dimension – for the catalyst for the interplay of such creativity lies within us, the spectators, the visitors of these Pavilions. Such is how I understood it and I find it to be the basis for developing an interesting Community within these open fields. A Community that will cross borders, according to Art Omi: “from arts education for our local Hudson Valley neighbors, to welcoming international visitors and artists-in-residence alike to find inspiration in the fields of the Sculpture & Architecture Park in Ghent, and now to providing a platform for established artists to shape their legacies with Art Omi Pavilions in Chatham, we are honored to be part of the artistic process at every stage of its lifecycle”, shares Ruth Adams, co-executive director of Art Omi along with JeremyAdams.

The anticipated groundbreaking of the site will take place in 2025, and the initial collaborators include   Alice Aycock,  Rakuko Naito and Tadaaki Kuwayama, Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA) and Torkwase Dyson .

“The creative vision, spirit, and holistic ‘gesamtkunstwerk’ qualities that distinguish a body of work created or assembled from a singular point-of-view over a lifetime,” is what Art Omi is aiming for with this unique concept, Francis Greenburger continues.

Gesamtkunstwerk. German for a total work of art. Different art forms that come together to create a single, whole and cohesive work. From opera, to arts and architecture, and now to Art Omi Pavilions, where the objective is to“ preserve the vision, spirit, and holistic Gesamtkunstwerk in a sustainable natural landscape“.

It is truly a combination of creative forces, bringing together artists, architects and collectors. A legacy of creative expression. A community.

The post LANDSCAPE X ARCHITECTURE X ART first appeared on street art united states.
by Myriam Shwayri via street art united states

The Falling Angels

Scorched.  Damaged.  Bitten.  Wounded.  Undermined.  Abused.  Falling, falling… fallen?  JDL Street Art once again grips us where it hurts the most, mirroring our freefall into a manmade darkness that can only last while we willingly give in and give out, while we willingly surrender to the dive and accelerate the fall.  Falling, but not yet fallen.  It’s all in her trademark, distinctive in both content and form, art and neighborhood, message and location. No wonder that her latest work about the climate crisis, symbolized by a female version of Icarus, falls and rises from the top of the symbolic Serpentone Corviale building in Rome.

Stretching over one kilometer, the massive Corviale housing project was originally intended to house a growing population in the southern suburbs of Rome.  Architect Mario Fiorentini who designed and led the development of the project between 1972 and 1974, originally intended for the Corviale to be a utopian and self-regulating community, an alternative to the then-mushrooming neighborhoods called “dormitory districts” that lacked services. 

But in 1982 the project’s contractor went bankrupt, and the development of all community and commercial services in the complex fell into oblivion.  A fallen ambition.

Stretching over one kilometer, the Serpentone building or the Snake in Italian, bit back at the original developers and, sadly, at the local community as well.  Much of the complex was squatted and abandoned, and while some wealthy owners live there, it is mainly inhabited today by families that are challenged both socially and financially. 

A falling community?  Perchance.  But definitely not fallen.  For despite the “concrete monstrosity” of the building as described by some, creative and renaissance initiatives have revisited the complex in recent years in an effort to rekindle the relationship between its residents and the Corviale urban context.  One of these initiatives is Street Art for Rights whose mission is to put on the map social, economic and cultural causes by bringing art to neighborhoods with difficult backgrounds.  Putting on the map such issues literally becomes putting on the neighborhoods’ walls such issues, and with over 30 murals executed so far in the suburbs of Corviale and Settecamini in Rome, and in Lazio between Cassino, Fiumicino and Latina, Street Art for Rights has been making some interesting visual noise.

Giuseppe Casa is behind the concept.  Curated by Oriana Rizzuto for MArte Gallery and produced by the Cultural Association ARTmosfera, the idea originally started in 2014 as a special festival project for the MArteLive Biennial and evolved in the past 9 years to branch out and cross borders under the European Union’s Creative Program.  Urban street art steps into other European isolated and special neighborhoods, with the objective of highlighting key social issues to a larger European and international audience.

The street art seed for rights was planted in Italy – in Corviale to be more specific, for all what this neighborhood symbolizes.  And who better than JDL to inaugurate the first phase of this unique European project?

Fighting frost and rain this past December, JDL paved the way for the project and the open-air museum as intended by Street Art for Rights.  With the fantastic support of a league of her peers, Spike, Smok, Marqus, Boogie, Joys and the stainless team of Street Art for Rights, she executed the biggest mural of Rome.  Although it will be available temporarily for two years as the complex will be renovated under Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the mural will however be immortalized and converted into an NFT, with proceeds donated to a neighborhood charity.

Judith de Leeuw alias JDL is a woman of few words, yet when she calls for the change that our world needs, she is unstoppable from the top of all international masonries.   With her art, she speaks loudly and with many words, bringing forward the unseen, the unheard, the misunderstood, the sinful, the victim and the criminal, the innocent and the abused – all in a full-frontal artistic message that, if it does not push us to create the change we want for our world, it at least forces us to ask the most daring questions: who are those people on the wall, what is their story, and how can we together create the change that we need for our world?

As such, the female version of Icarus came to be. 

Despite having been warned to fly neither too high nor too low to avoid burning his wings, Icarus became zealous once he had a taste of the rush and excitement, once he started reaching higher grounds. A blinded eagerness for more skies and higher altitudes that melted his wings under the sun, and cost him his life.  A disproportionate ambition aligned with an unnecessary ego in one mural, to bring attention to the climate crisis. 

The society we live in today is designed to be more efficient, producing bigger amounts with fewer tools.  Small farmers are replaced by big factories, and horses by cars.  Even though our society is designed with the best intentions, the climate crisis we live in today proves that our ambition and ego as humankind might have grown excessively, JDL writes.

Icarus, a woman under the vision of JDL, is freefalling.  Her wings can no longer carry her.  They are heavy with oil.  Falling, falling…. fallen? Not yet.  For she still may have a chance at life.  She may still return to her skies, but only if she clears the oil out of her feathers and wings, only if she creates the change that she wants – and needs – for her world. 

On this symbolic Snake building, Icarus, she, her, the woman, seems to also represent Mother Earth.  Damaged, polluted, soiled and stained by the falling Man.  Is there hope still for her?

JDL’s work strikes many chords.  Yet the common denominator remains her connection with our modern world’s social prisons, these secluded and isolated neighborhoods that most of us prefer not to hear about – let alone step into.  On this symbolic Serpentone building, she chose not to erase some of the inscriptions created at the base of her mural by the youth of Corviale.  Another message she conveys to us as she brings the community from behind the dark walls of Corviale and out into the light, facing the world from the top of a 40-meter wall. 

“Mother Earth is in pain!” her mural shouts. 

“Ah, but don’t forget the falling angels”, JDL seems to be whispering…

The post The Falling Angels first appeared on street art united states.
by Myriam Shwayri via street art united states

The Falling Angels

Scorched.  Damaged.  Bitten.  Wounded.  Undermined.  Abused.  Falling, falling… fallen?  JDL Street Art once again grips us where it hurts the most, mirroring our freefall into a manmade darkness that can only last while we willingly give in and give out, while we willingly surrender to the dive and accelerate the fall.  Falling, but not yet fallen.  It’s all in her trademark, distinctive in both content and form, art and neighborhood, message and location. No wonder that her latest work about the climate crisis, symbolized by a female version of Icarus, falls and rises from the top of the symbolic Serpentone Corviale building in Rome.

Stretching over one kilometer, the massive Corviale housing project was originally intended to house a growing population in the southern suburbs of Rome.  Architect Mario Fiorentini who designed and led the development of the project between 1972 and 1974, originally intended for the Corviale to be a utopian and self-regulating community, an alternative to the then-mushrooming neighborhoods called “dormitory districts” that lacked services. 

But in 1982 the project’s contractor went bankrupt, and the development of all community and commercial services in the complex fell into oblivion.  A fallen ambition.

Stretching over one kilometer, the Serpentone building or the Snake in Italian, bit back at the original developers and, sadly, at the local community as well.  Much of the complex was squatted and abandoned, and while some wealthy owners live there, it is mainly inhabited today by families that are challenged both socially and financially. 

A falling community?  Perchance.  But definitely not fallen.  For despite the “concrete monstrosity” of the building as described by some, creative and renaissance initiatives have revisited the complex in recent years in an effort to rekindle the relationship between its residents and the Corviale urban context.  One of these initiatives is Street Art for Rights whose mission is to put on the map social, economic and cultural causes by bringing art to neighborhoods with difficult backgrounds.  Putting on the map such issues literally becomes putting on the neighborhoods’ walls such issues, and with over 30 murals executed so far in the suburbs of Corviale and Settecamini in Rome, and in Lazio between Cassino, Fiumicino and Latina, Street Art for Rights has been making some interesting visual noise.

Giuseppe Casa is behind the concept.  Curated by Oriana Rizzuto for MArte Gallery and produced by the Cultural Association ARTmosfera, the idea originally started in 2014 as a special festival project for the MArteLive Biennial and evolved in the past 9 years to branch out and cross borders under the European Union’s Creative Program.  Urban street art steps into other European isolated and special neighborhoods, with the objective of highlighting key social issues to a larger European and international audience.

The street art seed for rights was planted in Italy – in Corviale to be more specific, for all what this neighborhood symbolizes.  And who better than JDL to inaugurate the first phase of this unique European project?

Fighting frost and rain this past December, JDL paved the way for the project and the open-air museum as intended by Street Art for Rights.  With the fantastic support of a league of her peers, Spike, Smok, Marqus, Boogie, Joys and the stainless team of Street Art for Rights, she executed the biggest mural of Rome.  Although it will be available temporarily for two years as the complex will be renovated under Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the mural will however be immortalized and converted into an NFT, with proceeds donated to a neighborhood charity.

Judith de Leeuw alias JDL is a woman of few words, yet when she calls for the change that our world needs, she is unstoppable from the top of all international masonries.   With her art, she speaks loudly and with many words, bringing forward the unseen, the unheard, the misunderstood, the sinful, the victim and the criminal, the innocent and the abused – all in a full-frontal artistic message that, if it does not push us to create the change we want for our world, it at least forces us to ask the most daring questions: who are those people on the wall, what is their story, and how can we together create the change that we need for our world?

As such, the female version of Icarus came to be. 

Despite having been warned to fly neither too high nor too low to avoid burning his wings, Icarus became zealous once he had a taste of the rush and excitement, once he started reaching higher grounds. A blinded eagerness for more skies and higher altitudes that melted his wings under the sun, and cost him his life.  A disproportionate ambition aligned with an unnecessary ego in one mural, to bring attention to the climate crisis. 

The society we live in today is designed to be more efficient, producing bigger amounts with fewer tools.  Small farmers are replaced by big factories, and horses by cars.  Even though our society is designed with the best intentions, the climate crisis we live in today proves that our ambition and ego as humankind might have grown excessively, JDL writes.

Icarus, a woman under the vision of JDL, is freefalling.  Her wings can no longer carry her.  They are heavy with oil.  Falling, falling…. fallen? Not yet.  For she still may have a chance at life.  She may still return to her skies, but only if she clears the oil out of her feathers and wings, only if she creates the change that she wants – and needs – for her world. 

On this symbolic Snake building, Icarus, she, her, the woman, seems to also represent Mother Earth.  Damaged, polluted, soiled and stained by the falling Man.  Is there hope still for her?

JDL’s work strikes many chords.  Yet the common denominator remains her connection with our modern world’s social prisons, these secluded and isolated neighborhoods that most of us prefer not to hear about – let alone step into.  On this symbolic Serpentone building, she chose not to erase some of the inscriptions created at the base of her mural by the youth of Corviale.  Another message she conveys to us as she brings the community from behind the dark walls of Corviale and out into the light, facing the world from the top of a 40-meter wall. 

“Mother Earth is in pain!” her mural shouts. 

“Ah, but don’t forget the falling angels”, JDL seems to be whispering…

The post The Falling Angels first appeared on street art united states.
by Myriam Shwayri via street art united states

If Stonemasons Could Talk

What would they say? From hand chiseling blocks of stone to shaping, polishing and leveling stones with the use of a wide range of sophisticated power tools, these unsung heroes have been romancing the stone since the ancient times, contributing to the development of historic and modern structures.  David de la Mano and Pablo S. Herrero pay tribute to these anonymous wizards by giving them a space to “breathe”, right in the heart of the “Golden City”, Salamanca, a historical city famous for its sandstone and outstanding constructions.

There must be some magic behind these rough hands that work the stone.  While architects may have originally designed a building, construction, statue or edifice, stonemasons however remain the skillful craftsmen who bring life to these structures that have defined our world and civilizations.  From the Egyptian Pyramids, to Stonehenge, the Taj Mahal, Petra, Uxmal, the Parthenon and the great Churches and Cathedrals of medieval Europe to name just a few, stonemasons have left their marks on this earth – and this is not said randomly, for if you look closely at the stones, you will find masons’ marks on medieval stonework, defining different types of stonework, stonemasons or construction techniques.

Geometric in form, these marks remain a source of mystery: they were either made by the lower standard masons whose job was to rough out the stone, or by highly-skilled masons who would undertake more sophisticated tasks such as detailed carving or molding.  Some say that these symbols define the place where the stones were shipped to out of the quarry.  Others believe that each mason had his own identity mark that he would pass it on to the following generation.

These marks could also be regarded as a form of quality control once a job is completed, a way for stonemasons to rightly sign off their work just like any artist would, but with a symbol that was theirs.  Some sort of a secret code, maybe?  Here, the plot thickens as some also believe that certain masons used these symbols as ritual protection marks for their work.  Who knows?  What all agree on however, is that these symbols represent a language known only within the early guild of these skilled workers.

Yet no matter what they mean, it is clear that “similarities between those used by the ancient Egyptians, the early Islamic architects, and the craftsmen of the Middle Ages onwards are striking”, Philippa Lee shares in her interesting and detailed study. Thus if stones can neither talk nor communicate, stonemasons surely could, for it is fascinating how geometric patterns are quite similar irrespective of the times, distances, civilizations and ages that separate the stonemasons or the craftsmen who carved them.

So, who were these fascinating immortal craftsmen who clearly seemed to have similar interests irrespective of geography and time, and what did these symbols mean to them?  And in the heart of Salamanca, what could have gone through their minds while working the famous ochre Villamayor stone and building the Catedral Vieja, the Escuelas Menores, or the Convento de San Esteban?

We rarely think of the stonemasons when we visit such impressive constructions, but in collaboration with The PICA association, the Department of Culture and the Town Hall of Villamayor, David and Pablo wanted to guide us towards the common workers and pay tribute to these anonymous craftsmen who remain a mystery to us all.

One could imagine them working relentlessly under the beating Salamanca sun.  Others might picture them basking in the sun in a field of wheat while on their well-deserved break, breathing peacefully while they imagine the people who would live in the structure they are completing – while they imagine the people who would give a life and a meaning to the stones they spent hours shaping with sweat and blood, with their very own rough hands.

There, in that field of dancing wheat, their head rested on the ground and their eyes fixating the golden sandstone of Salamanca, these magicians of the stone would then perhaps imagine the shape of the mark they would chisel on the stone as a form of communication with the ones who would live in that structure, a distant greeting – or maybe a blessing – a humble and simple wink, hello, and mark inspired from the surrounding nature, and that would hold a personal meaning to them, only to them, yet carved on such a magnificent and imposing structure that would be recognized worldwide and across all civilizations.

This is how the mural “Breathe” came to be.  It is “a reflective rest – one that connects you with nature, with the earth and with the universe”, David writes.  It is fascinating how humble and modest stonemasons left this world with some fascinating structures, yet they made no name for themselves.  They only left these geometric symbols that remain a mystery to us all but that must have meant the world to them.  Worldwide recognition is hardly what these common workers were looking for, and this mural is a tribute to them.

A symbolic tribute as the body of the resting man is adorned with a crowd of stonemason marks, all created by children from Villamayor and Salamanca who stenciled and freehand painted the marks, under the guidance of Pablo and David.  A recognition.  A tribute.  A sincere appreciation from this generation to the one of gifted craftsmen who left their marks on some historical constructions.

“Breathe” poetically shares the stonemasons’ tradition: no matter how common we may seem to others, we can leave our distinctive mark on this earth.  For in the end, all what matters is to connect with our fellow men, lie down in nature and simply, Breathe.

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The post If Stonemasons Could Talk first appeared on street art united states.
by Myriam Shwayri via street art united states

If Stonemasons Could Talk

What would they say? From hand chiseling blocks of stone to shaping, polishing and leveling stones with the use of a wide range of sophisticated power tools, these unsung heroes have been romancing the stone since the ancient times, contributing to the development of historic and modern structures.  David de la Mano and Pablo S. Herrero pay tribute to these anonymous wizards by giving them a space to “breathe”, right in the heart of the “Golden City”, Salamanca, a historical city famous for its sandstone and outstanding constructions.

There must be some magic behind these rough hands that work the stone.  While architects may have originally designed a building, construction, statue or edifice, stonemasons however remain the skillful craftsmen who bring life to these structures that have defined our world and civilizations.  From the Egyptian Pyramids, to Stonehenge, the Taj Mahal, Petra, Uxmal, the Parthenon and the great Churches and Cathedrals of medieval Europe to name just a few, stonemasons have left their marks on this earth – and this is not said randomly, for if you look closely at the stones, you will find masons’ marks on medieval stonework, defining different types of stonework, stonemasons or construction techniques.

Geometric in form, these marks remain a source of mystery: they were either made by the lower standard masons whose job was to rough out the stone, or by highly-skilled masons who would undertake more sophisticated tasks such as detailed carving or molding.  Some say that these symbols define the place where the stones were shipped to out of the quarry.  Others believe that each mason had his own identity mark that he would pass it on to the following generation.

These marks could also be regarded as a form of quality control once a job is completed, a way for stonemasons to rightly sign off their work just like any artist would, but with a symbol that was theirs.  Some sort of a secret code, maybe?  Here, the plot thickens as some also believe that certain masons used these symbols as ritual protection marks for their work.  Who knows?  What all agree on however, is that these symbols represent a language known only within the early guild of these skilled workers.

Yet no matter what they mean, it is clear that “similarities between those used by the ancient Egyptians, the early Islamic architects, and the craftsmen of the Middle Ages onwards are striking”, Philippa Lee shares in her interesting and detailed study. Thus if stones can neither talk nor communicate, stonemasons surely could, for it is fascinating how geometric patterns are quite similar irrespective of the times, distances, civilizations and ages that separate the stonemasons or the craftsmen who carved them.

So, who were these fascinating immortal craftsmen who clearly seemed to have similar interests irrespective of geography and time, and what did these symbols mean to them?  And in the heart of Salamanca, what could have gone through their minds while working the famous ochre Villamayor stone and building the Catedral Vieja, the Escuelas Menores, or the Convento de San Esteban?

We rarely think of the stonemasons when we visit such impressive constructions, but in collaboration with The PICA association, the Department of Culture and the Town Hall of Villamayor, David and Pablo wanted to guide us towards the common workers and pay tribute to these anonymous craftsmen who remain a mystery to us all.

One could imagine them working relentlessly under the beating Salamanca sun.  Others might picture them basking in the sun in a field of wheat while on their well-deserved break, breathing peacefully while they imagine the people who would live in the structure they are completing – while they imagine the people who would give a life and a meaning to the stones they spent hours shaping with sweat and blood, with their very own rough hands.

There, in that field of dancing wheat, their head rested on the ground and their eyes fixating the golden sandstone of Salamanca, these magicians of the stone would then perhaps imagine the shape of the mark they would chisel on the stone as a form of communication with the ones who would live in that structure, a distant greeting – or maybe a blessing – a humble and simple wink, hello, and mark inspired from the surrounding nature, and that would hold a personal meaning to them, only to them, yet carved on such a magnificent and imposing structure that would be recognized worldwide and across all civilizations.

This is how the mural “Breathe” came to be.  It is “a reflective rest – one that connects you with nature, with the earth and with the universe”, David writes.  It is fascinating how humble and modest stonemasons left this world with some fascinating structures, yet they made no name for themselves.  They only left these geometric symbols that remain a mystery to us all but that must have meant the world to them.  Worldwide recognition is hardly what these common workers were looking for, and this mural is a tribute to them.

A symbolic tribute as the body of the resting man is adorned with a crowd of stonemason marks, all created by children from Villamayor and Salamanca who stenciled and freehand painted the marks, under the guidance of Pablo and David.  A recognition.  A tribute.  A sincere appreciation from this generation to the one of gifted craftsmen who left their marks on some historical constructions.

“Breathe” poetically shares the stonemasons’ tradition: no matter how common we may seem to others, we can leave our distinctive mark on this earth.  For in the end, all what matters is to connect with our fellow men, lie down in nature and simply, Breathe.

---

 

The post If Stonemasons Could Talk first appeared on street art united states.
by Myriam Shwayri via street art united states