Graffiti writer, formally trained artist, graphic designer, muralist, and tattooist, Awer was born in Polignano a mare (IT) but is now Berlin based. His newest outdoor mural returns him to Italy, near The Caves of Castellana that open in south-eastern Murge. Like his liquid dancing surrealism of psychological topographies, the forms in the caves are melting and organic in appearance. Here in the city of Bari, which is part of Grotte di Castellana, Awer says he has flooded the arches of the building of the Viterbo Foundation with his painting, “modifying its architecture and giving new life to the portico.”

He tells us that he is reminded of the historical Castellana floods, which are still ever-present in the memory and psyche of its inhabitants. In his paper “Flood history in the karst environment of Castellana-Grotte,” author Mario Parise says that “The oldest part of the town lies at the bottom of a karst valley, which was hit by many flood events in the last centuries.” Later, he calls to mind the scenes created in this new mural, “Karst areas represent a very distinct type of environment, with marked local and regional differentiation of ecosystems and geotopes that are expressed by their specific morphology, hydrographic and ecological characteristics.”

Awer has described his work online as being “dominated by irregular streams of parallel lines that, as if moved by waves of a sound rhythm, spread brightly like energy trails.” Naturally, or supernaturally, this new mural for @libervia_dipintidistoria perfectly mimics the earth and perhaps the topography of the mind as well.

“The vibrant dance climbs up the building enclosing itself in a vortex that opens a portal to the abyss,” Awer says, “an invitation to the underground worlds that the city of Castellana mysteriously hides in the dark depths of ITS caves a bit like each of us, an invitation to seek out one’s dark side unknown to so many, what could be the best of us.”

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