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    Lek and Sowat Sandcastle for the LaBel Valette Festival

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    Marking the fifth anniversary of the LaBel Valette Festival in France, artists Lek and Sowat have given a new identity to this 19th century castle, by painting all its surfaces and transforming it into a monumental sandcastle.Located in Pressigny-les-Pins, around one hour from Paris by train, Château de la Valette sits on just under 100 acres of wooded land and is comprised of the castle, a chapel, and two three-storey dormitory buildings. After the colourful works of Okuda (2018), 3ttman (2019), the giant calligraphy of L’Atlas (2020) and the optical illusions of Astro (2021), this mythical duo open the LaBel Valette festival that will take place on August 26 and 27, 2022.The LaBel Valette Festival, organised by UAC (Urban Art Crew) and U2A (Urban Art Agency), will take place on August 26 and 27, 2022 at La Valette estate in Pressigny-les-Pins.The two days programme includes graffiti battles, a musical production competition, live painting, workshops as well as a series of music concerts. Full programme hereCheck pictures of the work in progress below:Lek and Sowat were struck by the intense history of the ‘Domaine de La Valette’. Firstly belonging to the estate of a Count and a Countess, it then became property of Franco, followed by the Spanish republicans. It was later transformed into a college, then fell into abandonment. And was bought by an individual. The castle holds eventually a strong position of Street Art in France thanks to the LaBel Valette Festival project.The artistic duo decided to work around the image of the sandcastle, which refers to the ephemeral nature of Street Art, and pixels, which evoke the aesthetics of the 80s.Using bright blue and neon colours, they painted 10 000 square meters to transform the castle entirely.Lek and Sowat ’s Sandcastle illustrates this year’s theme of the festival “Believe in your dreams”: A sandcastle can be erased by the rising tide but is rebuilt thanks to the venue of a new artist.  A sandcastle is fragile, requires attention and commitment. It is imagined, hoped for, then built. More

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      2020 Edition of Rouen Impressionnee in France

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      After the success of the 2016 edition, the 2020 edition of Rouen Impressionnee gathered 23 international artists, expanding successfully its open-air mural art exhibition in the streets of Rouen despite all the issues of this challenging year.

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      A total of 20 new murals have joined the existing murals created in 2016 by international artists like SatOne, Sainer, Velvet & Zoer. Curator Olivier Landes and his team focussed on the contextualization of the works, in connection with the landscape, architecture and urban history.
      In parallel to the monumental artworks, a series of events are also scheduled until end of November, including artistic interventions, graffiti jam, talks and conferences and workshops, as well as a comprehensive retrospective exhibition retracing 35 years of Street Art in Rouen.
      Featured artists include:Citémômes • Claude Blo Ricci • Elian Chali • Fabrice Houdry • Fred Calmets • Herman Kolitz • Jan Vormann • Jean Faucheur • LKSIR • Lison de Ridder • Liz Ponio • Luca Arbocco • Manolo Mesa • Nadège Dauvergne • Nelio • Nubian • OX • Olivia Paroldi • Patrice Marchand • Ratur • Roberto Ciredz • Roid • Savati • Smad
      Using a wide variety of techniques, from collage, engraving to knitting, the artistic works are intrinsically linked to the neighbourhoods and architecture. While being sensitive to architectural details, textures and volumes, the artists also involved local residents and communities.

      JAN VORMANN

      German artist Jan Vormann used Lego plastic construction pieces to repair and fill holes in the broken walls on an historical gothic building bombarded during WWII.

      Most of the works take the form of murals which vary from trompe-l’œil, pointillism, portraiture, abstraction to anamorphosis or landscape figuration:

      BLO

      French artist Blo (covered earlier) has designed a composition of vibrant and colourful shapes to highlight the passage under a monumental arch.

      ‘RENAISSANCE’ BY RATUR

      MANOLO MESA

      Spanish artist Manolo Mesa has paid tribute to the long tradition of ceramics in the Saint-Sever district, by painting a large scale mural featuring a trompe-l’oeil version of an 18th century jar, currently displayed in the Museum of Ceramics of Rouen.

      CITEMOMES

      The cultural non-profit organisation Citémômes led a yarn bombing project where intergenerations covered the walls and roof of a small house with tiny knitted squares in tribute to Monet.

      LIZ PONIO

      Liz Ponio has adorned the facade of the Simone Veil social centre of Rouen with hundreds of painted pebbles as a nod to the pointillist movement.

      NADEGE DAUVERGNE

      French artist Nadege Dauvergne painted an intimate portrait of two figures on the verge of kissing, using touches of sprays paint while the volume is being generated by playing with light and dark colours.

      ‘2006250942’ BY NELIO

      Inspired by Monet’s cathedrals and their diffuse waves, Nelio painted an oniric landscape, mixing abstraction and figuration. To add to mystery the title is “2006250942”.

      ‘L’AUTRE POSSIBLE’ BY OLIVIA PAROLDI

      Olivia Paroldi produced a large-scale mural on three garage doors using an engraving technique with a sander and dowels. The triptych is inspired by a lockdown experience, whereby the character evolves and frees himself from a constrained universe.

      ‘LE PAVILLON TROUE’ BY OX

      Using 3D effects and dark volumes, OX creates an impressive optical effect, where the walls appear to be missing. To add to the visual effects, a fine fluorescent orange outline recalls the sprays used on construction sites, as a prelude to upcoming demolition of the house.

      ‘MELT FAST DIE YOUNG’ BY ROBERTO CIREDZ
      Berlin based artist Roberto Ciredz painted a dazzling trompe l’oeil effect on this façade with a political message. Beyond the aesthetic aspect, the artist highlights the issue of global warming with a piece of ice in the process of melting.

      ‘VOYAGE’ BY ROID

      British artist Roid developed a monumental work playing with geometric shapes and the urban environment like the tram lines. The result is full of energy and interacts with the buzzing atmosphere of the place.

      ELIAN CHALI

      Elian Chali has created an anamorphosis by placing two red and blue spheres on three houses that seem to unite. Viewed from a specific point, the shapes are composed to perfection, while from other points of view they deconstruct and transform into large abstract zones of primary colours.

      JEAN FAUCHEUR

      ‘AMAZONE BATMAN’ BY FRED CALMETS

      More info on the artworks and scheduled events on www.rouenimpressionee.fr More

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      Interactive Neon Mural #10 by Spidertag in Lyon, France

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      daisuke

      daisuke
      Daisuke grew up in Japan. At the age of 18 he moved to Canada and got interested in underground art influenced by his friend who is a graffiti artist. After his return, he is/was a member of StreetArtNewsJapan. In order to promote street art culture, he interviewed various artists such as Stik, AIKO, Dolk, TwoOne, and Roamcouch for the website. More

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      “Opera” by Edoardo Tresoldi in Reggio Calabria, Italy

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      Italian scenographer and sculptor Edoardo Tresoldi recently presented Opera, his new public art permanent installation last September 12th on Reggio Calabria’s seafront, promoted and commissioned by the local Municipality and the Metropolitan City.

      Opera was created to celebrate the contemplative relationship between place and human beings through the language of classical architecture and the transparency of the Absent Matter. The open wire-mesh structure – consisting of a colonnade of 46 pillars peaking at 8 meters within a 2,500-square meter park – will offer a new monument fully crossable and accessible to locals and visitors alike. The installation will be part of one of the largest European public spaces and aims to become a new landmark in the region.

      During the opening weekend a series of free music, performance and poetry events was held. The sound installation by Italian musician and composer Teho Teardo narrated the fusion between Opera and the site through a sound design articulated through the different moments of the day: morning, sunset and night. In addition, poetry events curated by Italian poet and writer Franco Arminio and a secret concert by the well-known Italian songwriter Brunori Sas.

      Opera is a monument to contemplation through which the place further defines itself. Tresoldi plays with the grammar of classical architecture – as well as with the transparency of the wire mesh – to research new visual poetics in dialogue with the surroundings and the viewer. The pillars, Western cultural heritage’s founding archetypes, compose a courtly frame allowing for a further interpretation of the park.

      The installation generates a mental agora that leads visitors into an ever-changing perceptive dimension thanks to the park’s varying heights and depths. Operaopens up relationships in several directions within an already materially open space: the perspective corridors run towards the landscape while the transparent pillars define an open structure that accommodates, accompanies and defines the spatial experience and establish a direct relationship between earth and sky.

      Opera is Tresoldi’s second installation in Calabria after Il Collezionista di Venti in 2013, and the second major permanent public artwork in Italy after the Basilica of Siponto in Apulia, commissioned by the Italian Ministry of Culture in 2016.

      Take a look below for more images of Opera. 

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      Guerilla Take Over of 100 UK Billboards in Anti-Car Protest

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      Environmental activist groups from the ‘Brandalism’ network have installed over 100 parody car advert posters on billboards and bus stops in England and Wales. The guerilla artworks featuring brands such as Range Rover, Ford, Volkswagen, BMW, Citroen, Lamborghini and Vauxhall were installed without permission in Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, London and Exeter.
      The billboard posters criticise the car industry for misleading adverts that have driven up demand for polluting vehicles and private car use – resulting in increased carbon emissions from road transport and worsening air pollution and congestion in towns and cities.

      “Car adverts promote private car ownership as a status symbol. Themes of power, success and social status are mixed with exotic locations and empty roads to promote a myth of freedom and mobility. The resulting problems of traffic congestion, worsening air pollution and climate breakdown are left out of these glitzy ads.
      Outdoor advertising billboards are used to promote new cars to motorists stuck in traffic. It’s absurd.
      Our towns and cities have become so dominated by private cars that we’re struggling to implement sustainable alternatives as the health and social costs mount. The active promotion of polluting vehicles through advertising campaigns isn’t helping the situation. We need a cultural shift away from cars,”Peter Marcuse from Brandalism said.

      Over 30 international artists including Paul Insect, Jimmy Cauty, street artist Dr.D, Fokawolf, satirist Darren Cullen, Matt Bonner and Michelle Tylicki created 45 different artwork designs.

      One poster by Birmingham street artist Fokawolf: “Ignore the Kids, Burn the Planet’ with a picture of an SUV.

      Brandalism is an international collective of artists that challenge corporate power, greed and corruption around the world. Intervening into ad spaces that usually celebrate consumption, Brandalism use ‘subvertising’ as a lens through which we can view the intersectional social & environmental justice issues that capitalism creates.
      In January 2020, 41 artists instigated Australia’s largest unsanctioned art campaign in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in the wake of devastating wildfires and inaction on the climate crisis. In 2015, the Brandalism group replaced 600 bus stop posters in Paris ahead of the UN climate talks critiquing major polluters such as Volkswagen and Air France.
      Check out below for more photos of the advert posters.

      Another billboard featured the highly fuel inefficient BMW X5 reading “Embrace the traffic jam, Driving you into Climate Breakdown.”

      A mock Lambourghini advert by 006 – Michelle Tylicki presented the bright SUV within a hellscape of 16th century artist Hieronymus Bosch

      Artwork by Paul Insect

      Artwork by Dave Walker

      Artwork by satirist Darren Cullen

      Artwork by Hogre

      Artwork by Matt Bonner

      Artwork by Paul Insect

      Artwork by Matt Manson

      Artwork by Dr.D

      Artwork by Jimmy Cauty

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      “Two Figures Behind Glass” by Fintan Magee in Ipswich, Australia

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      Australian artist Fintan Magee has recently finished another mural in Ipswich, Australia. This work depicts two rail-workers behind beveled glass. The Arctic glass pattern in the painting was common in middle-class Queensland homes in the 1960s and was used in French doors and windows.

      “Some of my earliest memories of Queensland architecture was my father’s silhouette through the glass doors when he got home. The work explores the role of de-industrialization in urban communities and on the suburban fringes of Australia. The figures in the mural appear distant, disconnected, isolated, and breaking up.”

      “As middle-class homes become increasingly out of reach for working-class Australians and lower-pay and job insecurity continues to shape how we work, this painting explores how nostalgia shapes    political views and how workers view their communities and the outside world. The work specifically looks at two rail workers from the city of Ipswich” the artist said.

      Additionally, Fintan Magee says the inspiration behind the painting was honouring those continued to work essential jobs – keeping the economy functioning and food supply moving during the coronavirus lockdown.
      Fintan Magee is a Sydney based social realist painter, specializing in large-scale murals. Magee has solidified his position as one of Australia’s leading public artists and has traveled extensively, completing projects in countries across the world, including Belarus, India, Jordan, Spain, Tahiti, USA, among many others.
      Scroll down below for more images of the stunning mural.

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      “TAIÑ MAPU” by INTI in Aalborg, Denmark

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      Chilean visual artist INTI had recently worked intensely on a new mural in Aalborg, Denmark as part of the 6th edition of the mural project ‘Out in the Open’ by KIRK Gallery. The mural entitled “TAIÑ MAPU / Our Land” is about the relationship between Denmark and Chile and how both countries are very focused at environmental issues and how the preserve nature and original cultures.

      “While beginning this mural in Denmark (a country known for its environmental policies), the Mapuche people in Chile continue their historic fight for their land. The mural in Aalborg explores the common ground existing between two distant cultures. Where there mainly seem to be differences, both countries maintain a relationship of respect and harmony with the land we inhabit living in us.
      Today more than ever we have to learn from those who have managed to live in balance with our ecosystem. How to keep a close connection to nature and treat it with care like a mother holding it in her arms” INTI said.

      “I’ve been working with warm colors and spiritual symbols since this is a part of our story in Chile. In general, I like to challenge the spiritual – not religiously but as a reference to our culture and then mix it all together.”

      Inti Castro, artistically known as INTI (meaning sun in Quechua), is one of Latin America’s foremost street artists and an artistic ambassador to the world. Coming from a family dedicated to the arts and music, he started tagging the streets of his hometown Valparaiso at the age of 13. Working on the street gave him a freedom to explore from the earliest days of his artistic practice. Yet whilst the wall was his natural medium, he also went through formal artistic studies at the Fine Arts School of Viña del Mar. There he acquired the rigor and training of a professional painter. Life experiences and his street practice rounded off his formation.
      Check out below for more photos of “TAIÑ MAPU”.

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