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New Mural by Monkeybird in Antibes, France
The Monkeybird duo has just realized this giant mural (600 sqm) in Antibes, France, using their signature multi-layered stencil technique, through which they render lines and sharp contrasts between black and white fields. Their approach to public art is strongly influenced by 20th-century British arts and crafts movements and French art nouveau -hence the stained glass effect that characterizes their works.
New Mural by Nomad Clan in Rotterdam, The Netherlands
At Rotterdam’s All Caps Festival (previously Pow! Wow! Rotterdam), the English duo Nomad Clan painted “The Equation.” The mural homages ancient Muslim philosopher Ibn Rushd, the founder of Averroism and an advocate of women’s rights already in the medieval age. As usual, the artists added a local twist to the mural: each flower represents one of the many ethnicities living in this multicultural neighbourhood of Rotterdam.
New Street Installation by SpY in Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Let’s stay in The Netherlands, where Spanish artist SpY has just realized this street installation at my beloved NDSM wharf in Amsterdam Noord. “Barrier Tape” is a kinetic and sound sculpture made of pieces of barrier tape. The work decontextualizes an everyday urban element used to control and condition the movement of people, and uses it to create ever-shifting, hypnotic patterns.
New Mural by Corentin Spear in Strasbourg, France
“Indignons-nous” (“Let’s be outraged”) is the latest artwork by Corentin Spear painted for Strasbourg’s “Colors Urban Art” festival. Despite the 17th-century aesthetics, the artwork has a very contemporary theme: contestation and social struggles. The artist challenges us to become aware of social injustices and act upon them as the only way to a better society.
New Subverts by the Brandalism Collective
The Brandalism collective created a subvertising campaign targeting airline advertising over its climate impact. Subvertising (as in the crasis of ‘subvert’ and ‘advertising’) refers to the practice of taking over ad spaces in the city as an act of civil disobedience, either by replacing the ad with an artwork, or by (creatively) modifying it.
In this massive coordinated subvertising action across the UK, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Belgium and France, anonymous Brandalism crews hijacked over 500 corporate advertising spaces, replacing adverts with satirical artworks denouncing the role of aviation industry advertising in the climate crisis.
Urban Art Exhibitions in Lisbon in October 2022
Lastly, if you are planning a trip to Lisbon in October, on top of the city’s stunning urban art collection, there are two events you shouldn’t miss:
My friend Nuno Viegas has a solo show at the legendary Underdogs Gallery (on view until October 22nd). Nuno’s work is about the clean representation of iconic objects from graffiti culture. His minimal compositions recall still-life paintings and directly contradict the rough visual identity of graffiti. At the Lisbon exhibition “Getting up,” Nuno presents, for the very first time, a series of sculptures made of hand-folded screen prints on golden paper -and it looks like his hyper-realistic objects had come to life!
Another friend, another solo show: on October 8th, Bordalo II inaugurates “Evilution” at Lisbon’s Edu Hub (on view until December 11th). Bordalo II is known for creating street installations made of trash and discarded materials. Through his ‘Big Trash Animals,’ Bordalo II highlights the critical conditions of endangered species threatened by the enormous amount of garbage created by humans. I’ve always been a great fan of his street works, but since my friends and I organized an indoor exhibition with his works in 2016 (“Forgotten: The Exhibition” at Rome’s MACRO Museum), I’m even more fascinated by his studio works.
