street art

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Art Photography

A Collaborative Photo Project Imagines a World Where Street Artists Have Free Rein

What would artists create if all of the world’s surfaces could become a canvas? Joseph Ford—of Invisible Jumpers fame—responds to this question in a new project called Impossible Street Art. Collaborating with eight artists including Peeta (previously), Levalet (previously), and Victoria Villasana (previously), Ford reimagines the possibilities of public spaces that are otherwise inaccessible due to scale, safety issues, or restrictions.

To begin the project, Ford photographed the locations, which include the Panthéon, the Seven Sisters cliffs in Sussex, and the center of a highway in Los Angeles, and then handed over enlarged prints to the artists. Once their additions were complete, he returned to the original sites and documented the altered images against the original backdrop. Playful and imaginative, the juxtaposed photos envision “a parallel universe where (artists) have complete artistic freedom.”

Shop the limited-edition prints and find behind-the-scenes looks at Ford’s process on his site.

 

Art

In Theatrical Murals and Dioramas by Aryz, Dramatic Scenarios Unfold in Vivid Color

In vibrant blocks of color, Catalan artist Aryz creates multistory murals and diorama-like artworks that radiate within their surroundings. Known for his saturated chromatic installations (previously) that fill the sides of apartment blocks or stand as panels in grand interiors, the artist emphasizes an outsized sketchy style as if the pigment were applied with giant crayons or pastels.

Aryz often reveals a grid-like structure redolent of paintings’ underdrawings, but rather than cover the structure, he creates distinct compartments containing a variety of textural and compositional elements. While much of his work emphasizes a flat two-dimensional plane, murals like “El Entreacto” expand the grid and incorporate three-dimensional depth with shadows and cartoonish details that glitch or cut off.

Often featuring figures in early 20th-century garments, Aryz’s dramatic scenes involve lions and circus performers, airplanes, or injured figures, evoking associations with early cinema and the First and Second World Wars. The murals’ locations provide incredible backdrops for the artist’s theatrical interior scenes, nodding to the rich history of crumbling old chapels or cavernous sites like Saint-Merri Church in Paris that have been damaged and reconstructed over many centuries.

Find more on his website, and see videos of his process on Instagram. (via Booooooom)

 

Art

Blu’s Refreshed Mural in Barcelona Bites into Ravenous Capitalism and Nature’s Brute Force

An updated mural from the anonymous Italian street artist Blu (previously) sinks its teeth into capitalistic greed and nature’s unparalleled capability for destruction.

Originally painted in 2009 following the Spanish financial crisis of 2008, the first mural likened the insatiable capitalist appetite to that of the aggressive fish, which stretched across a 25-meter section of wall at the intersection of Barcelona’s Carrer del Santuari and Carrer de la Gran Vista. Crews painted over the work in 2021 as part of a city project, and after hearing that neighbors wanted the piece back, Blu painted a second iteration earlier this year.

Retaining the bank-note shark of the 2009 work, the 2023 version adds an arsenal of nuclear missiles and warplanes to the central creature. The expansive mural continues to unfold like an exquisite corpse of global maladies with raging forest fires and floods encroaching on civilization, leaving mass chaos and ruin in their wake.

See the full mural here, and follow Blu’s latest projects on Instagram.

 

Art

Surreal Interactions and Enigmatic Narratives Unfold in Vibrant Murals by WAONE

Enigmatic characters sprout blossoms from their torsos, wear instruments for hats, or hitch a ride on a tiger’s back in the surreal murals of Ukrainian artist Vladimir Manzhos, a.k.a. WAONE. Drawing inspiration from religious iconography, history, and botany, his mysterious narratives often touch on themes of ecological apocalypse, cosmology, and duality. Uncanny interactions between people and an array of objects like plants, books, and anthropomorphized objects portray fantastical creatures or seismic events.

Based in Kyiv, WAONE travels around the world to participate in festivals and complete large-scale, collaborative commissions that highlight the complex relationship between humans, the environment, and the world we’ve made. A new mural in New York City’s Ukrainian Village gathers dozens of the artist’s colorful personalities and esoteric symbols together in one 48-foot-long composition. Backed by the colors of the Ukrainian flag, “From Legend to Discovery” marks the one-year anniversary of Russia’s war and highlights Ukrainians’ resiliency, courage, and their hope for victory.

“I keep painting, keep drawing, keep sculpting exactly the same way as before (February 24). Just one difference—there is no more doubt about what I’m doing; now I’m sure that everything I did in my practice before was right. Now everything that I do became completely conscious,” WAONE says. Find more work of his work on his website and Instagram.

 

 

Art Design

Javier de Riba’s Patterned Floors Establish Vibrant Gathering Spaces for Public Use

Catalan artist Javier de Riba (previously) brings the coziness of home outdoors with his ongoing Floors Project. Made possible with the help of the local community, the collaborative endeavor involves painting a specially designed motif onto the concrete or pavers that line walkways and city squares. Each intervention serves several purposes, including adding color to an otherwise gray setting, connecting locals to the artist and each other through art making, and establishing a welcoming gathering space in the midst of an urban environment.

De Riba has completed five of the carpets so far, four in Spain and one in Shenzen, China. He’s traveling to Breda, The Netherlands, this June to collaborate with Blind Walls Gallery on the largest work yet, which will span approximately 400 square feet. Follow updates on the Floors Project on Instagram and Behance, and pick up a print of the vibrant patterns in the artist’s shop.

 

Art

Xomatok’s Vibrant Interventions Paint the Cracked Sidewalks of Mexico City with Bold Colors

Wander the streets of the Roma Norte area of Mexico City, and you might stumble upon the latest interventions by Xomatok (previously). The artist painted bold color spectrums on split sidewalks, which have erupted around the defiant roots of trees. Vibrant pinks, yellows, and blues blanket the sides of the concrete, juxtaposing the natural and human-made and highlighting the power of the wooden giants in the urban environment. “This series of interventions brings us closer to a conscious experience in the streets, through the intervention of the cracks in the concrete that reveal the force of nature present in urban life, an allusion to the unveiling of other realities that exist in parallel to it,” the artist shares.

There are currently five works in the Manifestos series, which was curated by Heart and produced by Mano de Obra in collaboration with Drbarret and Adaneye. You can follow additions to the project and Xomatok’s latest works on Instagram.