street art

Posts tagged
with street art

Art

Movement and Instinct Inform Taquen’s Murals of Migrating Birds and Human Touch

Thin, structural lines delineate a magpie wing and contour a child’s nose or cheekbone in Taquen’s murals. Working with a color palette of pastels and neutral tones, the Spanish artist (previously) paints large-scale portraits, fragments of limbs, and birds, often leaving the composition’s skeletal forms visible. “The supports are just as important as the work itself,” he tells Colossal. “I look for camouflage, minimalism, and mixture. In the end, it is also a metaphorical form of the footprint that I believe we should leave in the places we pass through.”

Many of Taquen’s works consider the relationship between species through the lens of movement and impulse, focusing on gesture, touch, and instinctive acts. Birds mid-flight embody the tie between freedom and migration, while bare feet lounging in the grass or a hand grasping a flower channel a desire for physical contact. “I think we are very disconnected, living in parallel with nature, and it is a mistake. We must share it, experience it, live it, and thus we will be able to understand and respect it,” he says.

In the coming months, the artist will be working on murals in Belgium, Portugal, Ireland, France, and Spain, in addition to a conceptual project centered on paths and walking. You can follow those on Instagram.

 

Art

Awash in Color, Alice Pasquini’s Murals Exude Hope and Affection

For Alice Pasquini, painting outside among pedestrians, cars, and the milieu of local life is an inherent component of her practice. The artist begins each mural by studying the intended wall and its physical qualities. Material, paint color, and various markings and damages offer indications about the area’s history and people, she says, and form a well-worn, culturally situated canvas. She then renders large-scale pieces of affectionate couples, children, and figures with extraordinarily kind and welcoming faces, expressions that contrast the largely subversive and politically charged messages synonymous with street art.

“I speak about human emotion and the relationships between people,” she tells Colossal. “That is what influences me more. Walls around the world were a way to get out a message of being united—even if that seems banal—as opposed to rampant cynicism.” Whether painted in shades of pink or awash in vibrant primary colors, the murals advocate for strengthening bonds and finding connections in unusual places.

Pasquini’s murals grace walls around the world, including cities like her native Rome, Oslo, and most recently Toronto. This week, she’s directing the Cvtà Street Festival in Molise, Italy—the seventh annual event involves multiple artists previously featured on Colossal like Daku, Cinta Vidal, Icy & Sot, Ememem, and Akut—and you can follow updates on Instagram.

 

Art

Hundreds of Minuscule Figures Unite in Pejac’s New ‘Welcome’ Mat Intervention in Aberdeen

The entrance to a building housing some of Aberdeen’s most vulnerable residents and charity organizations is the site of the latest work by Pejac (previously). Comprised of minuscule figures congregating as a welcome mat, the streetside intervention confronts the hardships people face when relegated to society’s margins. The idea is that they’re “tired of being stepped over,” the artist says, and that there’s hope, dignity, and pride to be found when we’re united.

Pejac created the heartfelt piece for the 2022 Nuart Aberdeen (previously), which brought at least a dozen artists to the city this month. For more of his works, visit Instagram.

 

Art

Massive Leafy Murals by Adele Renault Magnify the Verdant Textures of Plants

Similar to her abstract masses of feathers, a new series of murals by artist Adele Renault highlights the vibrant colors and textures abundant in nature. Plantasia, which consists of smaller works on canvas and large-scale public pieces, magnifies the leaves from dandelions, banana trees, stinging nettle, and other species. Enlarging the specimens to reveal the intricate vein networks and subtle grooves in their midst, the lush murals are bright standouts among largely urban landscapes.

Although she’s spent the last few years painting birds, Renault tells Colossal that her interest in and devotion to plants is much deeper. “My mum taught me so much about growing your own food and growing vegetables as a kid. I didn’t know I was storing up important knowledge. Then during the pandemic, I think anyone who had a bit of love for nature and plants had time to get back to it, which was my case, too,” she says.

Renault works from photographs taken of her houseplants, those she encounters in the wild, and pre-pandemic, the gardens of the Ron Finley Project in Los Angeles—she splits her time between the city and her native Belgium. “I just get very excited whenever I see the beams of sunlight hitting leaves in a certain way, making that green seem translucent,” she shares, adding that her most recent obsession is with the prickly pear cactus and its iridescent sheen.

Some of the Plantasia series will be on view this September in Des Moines when Renault will also release a book cataloging the works. You can follow news on that show, along with her latest pieces, on Instagram.

 

Art

A Miniature Arcade, Art Museum, and Dock by AnonyMouse Squeeze into Malmö’s Streets

The traveling collective known as AnonyMouse squeaked through Malmö’s bustling streets the last few weeks installing the latest additions to its tiniest cultural scene. After working in cities across Europe, the unidentified group visited the Swedish coast to wedge a miniature art museum, arcade, and shipping dock just big enough for a few mice into the long-established architecture. Built at street level, each minuscule creation is an elaborate and witty rendition of its human-sized counterpart: games like “Feline Fighter 2″ and “Cheese Invaders” are packed into the glowing arcade, while small boats, a cafe, and an ominous flag printed with a mouse and crossbones appear at the inland port.

AnonyMouse is currently headed to its next unannounced destination, and you can follow its latest adventures on Instagram.

 

Art

Absurd and Unlucky Scenarios Unfold in Levalet’s Site-Specific Street Art

French artist Charles Leval, who works as Levalet (previously), is attuned with the nonsensical and hapless, which he translates into clever site-specific works in craft paper and India ink. Often built off of public architecture like windows and sidewalks, his streetside wheatpastes either typify a bad day or find humor in the odd and absurd: new works feature an angry pack of dogs, a construction worker planting an already blooming flower in concrete, and a golfer putting into a drainpipe. Levalet’s characters tend to be life-sized and depicted with earnest expressions that capture their unwarranted concentration or surprise at a situation gone awry.

Currently, the artist is adding to his narrative-based Odyssée project and will open a solo show at Dorothy Circus in London on March 25. Until then, find more of his works on Instagram, and pick up a print from his shop