All posts tagged: Rome

Hitnes Finds Poetry in the Evolution of Fishes

March 5, 2024 Artists

Curated by Mirko Pierri of the a.DNA project association

When Evolution Splashes onto School Walls: The E.C.O. Mural Unfolds

Let’s dive into a story where fish climb out of the sea and onto the school walls. Picture this: The Toscanelli Institute in Ostia, Italy, is no longer just a backdrop for mundane school routines. Thanks to the visionary Mirko Pierri of the a.DNA project, this school has turned into an extraordinary canvas that narrates the fascinating tale of evolution, courtesy of the street artist known as Hitnes. This isn’t your everyday science class; this is art making school cool again.

Hitnes. *“The poetry of the fishes evolution”* Ostia-Rome. (photo © Paolo Giannotti)

“The Poetry of the Fishes’ Evolution” is a journey from the ocean’s abyss to the land’s expanse, with Hitnes as our guide. His artwork wraps around the school’s walls like storybook pages, where fish transform into mammals right before our eyes. But there’s a twist – this story is a nudge towards thinking about our environmental impact.

Mirko Pierri puts it brilliantly: “These two architectural facades have… intrigued the students’ gaze who experience them. Now they are a source of curiosity… changing the perspective of those who cross this large courtyard.” Perhaps the new work can spark new conversations and encourage young minds to ponder, all while passing to the next class.

The E.C.O. project has turned the school into a buzzing hub that goes beyond textbooks. Hitnes’ work, with its echoes of ancient seas and critiques of human intervention, isn’t just for show. It invites the young (and the young at heart) to reflect, question, and discuss.

Director Paola Toto and the surrounding educational community have welcomed this vibrant addition, turning the Toscanelli Institute into a beacon of learning and environmental awareness. Imagine the usual school bell ringing, but instead of a rush to escape, there’s a buzz of students discussing evolution, art, and the environment. Here, you can trace your fingers over the evolution of life on these walls and think about our place in the world – all before the bell rings for your next class.

Hitnes. *“The poetry of the fishes evolution”*. Detail. Ostia-Rome. (photo © Mirko Pierri)

Hitnes. *“The poetry of the fishes evolution”*. Ostia-Rome. (photo © Mirko Pierri)

Fabio Petani Battles Climate Change with “OZONE & CARNEGIEA GIGANTEA” in Rome

January 5, 2023 Artists

OZONE & CARNEGIEA GIGANTEA

A quick look today at the Street Art for Rights Festival in Rome, Settecamini (IT), where this years theme was centered around the 17 goals of the UN 2030 agenda. It is not the only street art related effort that has chosen these goals as worthwhile to push, with the assumption that organizations like the United Nations and the World Economic Forum, neither of them an elected body, have our best interests in mind.

For artist Fabio Petani, himself an Italian and a climate activist with his work, his new mural is naturally in support of Goal 13: Climate Action.

“The graphic composition recalls an hourglass where the passage of time is marked by the inexorable melting of the ice,” he tells us, “which also modifies the climate of desert areas.”

“Fabio Petani is an artist who has always fought for this cause, and in this wall he has decided to talk about it by representing a glacier that is melting and transforming into its opposite: a desert,” organizers say on their Instagram page.

“The disappearance of glaciers and desertification is an ever closer reality if we don’t change something.”

Alice Pasquini And UNO Create Mural for Equality of Men & Women, and Respect in Rome

June 14, 2021 Artists

Today’s new piece by street artists/collaborators Alice Pasquini and UNO is high above your head, but the people it depicts are walking the same streets with us every day.

Alice Pasquini and UNO. Rome, Italy. (photo courtesy of Alice Paquini)

The result of a springtime education program for students to discuss issues of gender equality, violence against women, and the empowerment of society to take positive steps forward – the mural represents the results of many discussions with 60 or so students, teachers, a journalist, a photographer, experts, and activists.

Inaugurated on June 8^th at Liceo Classico Luciano Manara in Rome, Pasquini and UNO are proud to combine their talents. They say the mural title is translated generally as “’A mural for Equality: Equal Rights, Gender Differences” and is by the Municipality of Rome; Participation, Communication, and Equal Opportunities Department.

For more on the project please see Alice Pasquini’s Instagram and UNO’s Instagram

“Botanica Resistente” : Etnik and “a constant struggle for survival” in Rome.

May 17, 2021 Artists

Italian street artist Etnik has created a new “Botanica Resistente” in Rome to commemorate “Liberation Day” in Italy, which marks April 25th as the end of the Nazi’s occupation and the liberation from Fascism.

Etnik. *“Botanica Resistente”*. Centocelle, Rome. Italy 2021. (photo © Mirko Pierri)

He calls the colorful and abstractly organic 4-story work “Botanica Resistente”, which he says may have multiple readings. Mostly, it is “A direct reference to the toponymy that characterizes the whole district of Centocelle – with its streets named after plants, trees, and flowers.”

As a story of overcoming great obstacles and thriving in adversity, he also posits that “in the mural concrete blocks, asphalt and artificial works succumb to natural elements, giving life to a slow but gradual reconquest of spaces taken from nature.”

“The work is representative of familiar urban corners, on the border, where between asphalt and concrete, spontaneous plants are in a constant struggle for survival.”
Etnik

Completed in conjunction with the help and guidance of Mirko Pierri, curator of urban art for the a.DNA association, Etnik took about 5 days to transform this facade of the Liceo Scientifico Statale Francesco D’Assisi, between via Castore Durante e Viale Palmiro Togliatti.

Edoardo Tresoldi: Bringing Cathedral Sized Sculptures “Back To Nature” in Rome

October 21, 2020 Artists

Stately, soaring, and ethereal projects can’t simply be neatly tucked away in your garage after they are exhibited.

Edoardo Tresoldi. *“Ethera”* For Back To Nature exhibition. Rome, Italy. (photo © Roberto Conte)

That is especially true when the work is at the typical scale of Italian artist Edoardo Tresoldi, whose massive mesh sculptures wowed the privileged guests at Coachella a couple of years ago in Indio, California. Those Neoclassical and Baroque architectural ghosts transported the imaginations of attendees there, but now they physically have been transported to Rome. Given a second life in Parco dei Daini, Villa Borghese, the show will run this autumn until mid-December.

Calling the installation Etherea, Tresoldi has entered it into participation for “Back to Nature”, a new exhibition project curated by Costantino d’Orazio. The artist says the works have been redesigned and rearranged for the occasion and are meant to be part of a dialogue with the trees of Villa Borghese. It’s good to see these works in a new context and finding they have a similar character, still triumphant but more subdued perhaps.

BACK TO NATURE
Parco dei Daini, Villa Borghese, Rome
Promoted by Roma Capitale, Assessorato alla Crescita culturale – Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali
Until December 13, 2020
Free entry

NemO’s Bunches Heads Together Like Grapes in Roman Suburb

February 8, 2017 Artists

This mural program is “maintaining a complete detachment from the speculation of the art system,” says Street Artist NemO’s of Muracci Nostri.

However he looks quite attached to this wall.

NemO’S. Primavalle, Rome. November 2016. (photo © Laura Lepera)

Rappelling down its’ side using a doubled rope coiled around the body and fixed at a higher point, NemO’s efficiently averts the complications of ladders or cherry pickers and gets right to work on this bunch of grapes.

NemO’S. Primavalle, Rome. November 2016. (photo © Laura Lepera)

“I have translated into an image what I perceive of this district,” he says of the Rome suburb of Primavalle, which he tells us has always had a populist, anti-fascist sentiment since it was formed in response to the gentrification of downtown.

“In the 1930s the people who lived in via della conciliazione, a street near San Pietro, were displaced from the centre of Roma and forced to move to the outskirts,” he says, as he describes this neighborhood that has hosted collectives and movements of the left wing historically.

NemO’S. Detail. Primavalle, Rome. November 2016. (photo © Laura Lepera)

Thus the collective nature of this bunch of grapes, one entity composed of a greater number. “A ‘bunch’ of grapes is a singular word, composed of many grapes,” he says. “I drew a leviathan where each grape has a face, a fragment of a district, an inhabitant of Primavalle.”

NemO’S. Primavalle, Rome. November 2016. (photo © Laura Lepera)

Fintan Magee in Rome and Rising Tides Around Your Knees

May 9, 2016 Artists

Fintan Magee typically can knock out one of his murals rather quickly in a matter of 4 or 5 days, thanks to experience and focus. In Rome for his new show at the Varsi Gallery, he had to work between the raindrops and wind of inclement weather to create this magic realism inspired image of a woman up to her knees in a rising tide.

Fintan Magee for Varsi Gallery in Rome. (photo © @blindeyefactory)

Originally more of an aerosol painter, the Australian is now very painterly, perhaps inspired by expressionists but able to slightly bend reality to present an immediacy that nearly speaks audibly. This image again references rising sea levels and Climate Change, a commentary on our actions and their now-evident impact on the environment, animal habitats, and our communal ecosystem.

One might say that the continuing campaign of rising waters in his murals may obliquely refer to various political tides that are washing up on streets in cities. For certain, Magee continues to sharpen his craft as he travels the world.

Fintan Magee for Varsi Gallery in Rome. (photo © @blindeyefactory)

Thank you to Giorgio and Lorenzo at Blind Eye Factory for sharing these photos and video with us. https://www.facebook.com/blindeyefactory
Fintan Magee’s wall project was produced by Galleria Varsi and Muracci nostri with the collaboration of “Vengo da Primavalle” and ” Bronx a Colori”.

MP5: “Millennials” Holding Up the Future and Past in Rome

April 2, 2016 Artists

“I wanted to go back to the millennial roots of public and monumental art,” MP5 tells us about the inspiration for the new intervention in Torpignattara entitled “Millennials”. The Naples born Roman artist draws upon contemporary themes as well as classical in their 2D black and white iconic paintings, always with a hint of theatrical scene-making.

MP5 “Millennials” for Wunderkammern in Rome. March 2016. (photo © Nino Russo)

In reference to the new pillars that appear to be holding up the roof on this building, MP5 tells us that the inspiration came from the carved female forms of the The Caryatid Porch at the Athens’ Acropolis around 400 BC.

Reinterpreting classical mythology with an eye on contemporary political and cultural crises and developments has driven much of MP5s work in public murals in many cities in countries such as Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia and Sweden.

MP5 “Millennials” for Wunderkammern in Rome. March 2016. (photo © Nino Russo)

With “Millennials” the artist has just finished in Rome as part of her exhibition “Of Changes” at Wunderkammern Gallery, MP5 says they enjoyed the interaction the folks from the neighborhood while she painted. “Some sounded enthusiastic. Others asked me lots of questions about the meaning of it. In the end everybody was very nice and people from the neighborhood brought me food and treats all the time – or they would just pass by to check if everything was ok.”

Our special thanks to Wunderkammern for these exclusive images to share with BSA readers.

MP5 “Millennials” for Wunderkammern in Rome. March 2016. (photo © Martina Ruggeri)

MP5 painted this wall in conjunction with his exhibition at “Of Changes” currently on view at Wunderkammern Gallery in Rome. Click HERE for further information.

Spring Has Sprung : BonBon, UNO, and OX on the Street

March 22, 2016 Artists

It has been two days since the Sun was directly over the Equator and she is heading north to bring the Global North a lot of flowers and blossoms in the earliest spring since 1896. Today we have newly budded interventions from three cities in this warming hemisphere that may make you think of Spring 2016. See here new pieces from Amsterdam, Rome and Paris by sticker artist BonBon, wheat paster UNO and site-specific billboard jacker OX respectively.

BonBon. Amsterdam, The Netherlands. March 2016. (photo © @BonBon_Art)

UNO. Rome, Italy. March 2016. (photo © UNO)

Rome-based Street Artist UNO has on his mind the Surpreme Leader of North Korea, who Vanity Fair recently contrasted with a potential US President Trump. These don’t really look like Kim Jong-un’s features nor pallor but that fabulous hair is hitting the heights like a nuclear explosion! BTW Uno puts his own two-eye logo in the wallpaper pattern in the background. And no, we do not understand any of this at all.

OX. Paris, France. March 2016. (photo © OX)

And finally, new billboard takeovers by the minimalist conceptualist OX in Paris, whose installations are deeply sympathetic with their environment, often mimicking the colors/shapes/textures that are nearby. OX tells us, “I found these very “French!” Certainly the first one is.

OX. Paris, France. March 2016. (photo © OX)

BSA Film Friday: 03.04.16

March 4, 2016 Artists

Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.

Now screening :

1. Wall Writers: Graffiti in its Innocence
2. Pixel Pancho: “Teseo e il Minotauro” in Rome
3. Read The Label: Blood, Sweat and Years.

BSA Special Feature: Wall Writers: Graffiti in its Innocence

The depth of scholarship and research that Roger Gastman puts into graffiti history is only exceeded by his passion for the people and the culture that coalesced in the neighborhoods and streets of Philadelphia and New York in the genesis story of Wall Writers: Graffiti in its Innocence. He opens the doors to people who until now have been hidden and difficult to reach, and gives them an opportunity to tell the story of their lives then and how crucial the graffiti scene was to their experience of the city. He also examines the impact their work had on spurring the first of various art-in-the-streets scenes that evolved afterword.

Currently on tour for the 350 page tome and the documentary film, Gastman is bringing some of these original writers to cities to meet you, and possibly you may see the film’s narrator, Mr. John Waters.

For information regarding screenings click HERE

Pixel Pancho: “Teseo e il Minotauro” in Rome

In a city steeped in art history where every camera shot looks like a classic movie scene you have to be cognizant of the critical analysis that will be directed at your new mural from every Giovanni, Adriana, and Luca who are walking by or hanging out of the window. These are the countrymen and women of Pixelpancho so he takes it all into consideration and presents a classic of his own, merged with a steam-punked futurism of robots who are rather romantic in their own way.

Pixel Pancho: “Teseo e il Minotauro” in Rome

Special thanks to @theblindeyefactory

Read The Label: Blood, Sweat and Years.

A full length film about graffiti and skateboarding from this moment – a collection of skate, graff, rap, beatz, cops, vandalism, illegal mark-making, and legal murals that tells a story as seen by people who do it. How much is documentary and how much is fiction? Well, there probably wasn’t a soundtrack like this accompanying all of the original scenes, that’s for sure.

BSA Images Of The Week: 01.24.16

January 24, 2016 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Happy blizzard weekend New York! Who knew it would be so much fun to run free literally in the streets thanks to a travel ban on all non-emergency cars. It’s a bit of genius really, because if you DO get hit by a car, its probably an ambulance.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Anser, AX, Blek le Rat, BK Foxx, Cern, Domenico Romeo, Horace Panter, Key Detail, LMNOPI, Marthalicia, READ, Sean9Lugo, Solo Selci, This Is Awkward, and WERC.

Our top image: BK Foxx does a black and white mural based on a photograph by Brenda Ann Kenneally for JMZ Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!
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NEMO’S “Mafia Capitale” on a Pork Slaughterhouse Outside Rome

January 7, 2016 Artists

Oh, don’t be maudlin, dearies, it’s just a lengthwise naked man whose head is being sliced off into gold medallions.

Nemo’s is back on BSA with a new piece of a man in pieces.

Mafia Capitale speaks to what the Italian Street Artist says is a confluence of organized crime, human trafficking, and a former pork slaughterhouse.

The ex factory is home to many immigrant families who took it over a few years ago to make homes inside; without permits, electricity, heat, water. In 2012 two imaginative film directors became conduits of creativity and christened it the Metropoliz Space and introduced interactive art projects to draw the newly formed community together and provide artful diversions.

Mafia Capitale is both the name of Nemo’s new piece and the organized crime group in Rome newspapers for the last 15 years who stood accused of a variety of crimes such as “extortion, usury, bribery, false billing, fraudulent transfer of assets, money laundering and other crimes,” says the artist.

Most significant to this painting is the crime organization’s alleged profiting from trafficking immigrants. Nemo’s says that one of them was reportedly caught on a wiretap saying, “do you realize how much I can earn on immigrants? Drug trafficking doesn’t make this much! …”.

The stories Nemo’s can tell you are intricate and dizzying, and again his mural is painful and truthful – and a little bit funny. Don’t you admire the ladder on top of the car?

Before we go, please look at the video series created by Giorgio De Finis and Fabrizio Boni of Metropoliz Space to see the immigrants creating a new life inside this old factory and the intersection with art and imagination – and a space rocket. It’s worth your time.

“I created Mafia Capitale on na outside wall of Metropoliz and it’s a self-financed project, built without permits and sponsors,” says Nemo’s. “The project was wanted and curated by Giorgio De Finis e Michela Pierlorenzi.”

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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