All posts tagged: Iryna Kanishcheva

“Make Art Not War”; Recreating a Fairey Mural & Helping Ukrainians in Gainseville, Florida

“Make Art Not War”; Recreating a Fairey Mural & Helping Ukrainians in Gainseville, Florida

Visionary Fam, a team of local artists from Gainesville, Florida, have completed a new mural by street artist Shepard Fairey, thanks to an initiative by local street art curator Irina Kanishcheva. The native of Lviv, Ukraine, has been looking for an opportunity to express solidarity with Ukrainians during the current war with Russia. With Fairey’s imprimatur, the team recreated one of his recent classic designs, now interpreted with the yellow and blue Ukrainian national colors.

Jah Seck helps with the execution of Shepard Fairey’s Make Art Not War mural in collaboration with Monochronicle for the Can Art Help Fight a War project. Gainesville, Florida. (photo © Charles Alan Rye)

It’s a straight-forward project; create art that shows solidarity on a wall donated by local business owner Scott Shillington of The Top, and keep the conversation going. They even raised three thousand dollars to send to folks there, thanks to Irina’s homemade borscht and vodka drinks. It’s good to see small groups come together to make a change – that’s the best way to circumvent the powerful interests who sometimes are making a profit off the fire, in fact who may be the arsonists.

Visionary Fam team executes Shepard Fairey’s Make Art Not War mural in collaboration with Monochronicle for the Can Art Help Fight a War project. Gainesville, Florida. (photo © Charles Alan Rye)
Julia Monteiro helps with the execution of Shepard Fairey’s Make Art Not War mural in collaboration with Monochronicle for the Can Art Help Fight a War project. Gainesville, Florida. (photo © Charles Alan Rye)
Shepard Fairey. Detail. Make Art Not War mural in collaboration with Monochronicle for the Can Art Help Fight a War project. Gainesville, Florida. (photo © Charles Alan Rye)
Shepard Fairey. Make Art Not War mural in collaboration with Monochronicle for the Can Art Help Fight a War project. Gainesville, Florida. (photo © Charles Alan Rye)
Shepard Fairey. Make Art Not War mural in collaboration with Monochronicle for the Can Art Help Fight a War project. Gainesville, Florida. (photo © Charles Alan Rye)
Group shot. Make Art Not War mural in collaboration with Monochronicle for the Can Art Help Fight a War project. Gainesville, Florida. (photo © Charles Alan Rye)
Shepard Fairey. Make Art Not War mural in collaboration with Monochronicle for the Can Art Help Fight a War project. Gainesville, Florida. (photo © Charles Alan Rye)
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Peeta and a Soaring Heron in Fort Lauderdale

Peeta and a Soaring Heron in Fort Lauderdale

During the cold winter months, many of us Northerners in the US flock to Florida if we can – to relax in the sun, run on the beach, commune with the ever-present heron.

Emblematic of the “Sunshine State” and of Fort Lauderdale in particular, this pretty bird looks like it standing on one skinny leg most of the time, a clumpy cloud of white feathers hovering about the ground as it roosts. Some call it majestic, this commonplace unassuming neighbor will happily land on top of of bush near you as you present yourself on a chaise lounge to the sun god.

 

Peeta. “Heron”. In collaboration with Monochronicle/Iryna Kanishcheva. Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (photo © B4flight Films)

Here in Port Everglades the Italian street artist Peeta creates his ode to this down to earth yet soaring symbol, selecting “representative colors, shapes and subjects in order to create a harmonious relationship with the surrounding environment,” says Iryna Kanishcheva, who produced the project with the Broward County Cultural Division. In the composition you see echoes of the ocean, ground, sky, the sun… and you notice that the artist has engulfed the corner of the building, effectively hiding it if you stand at the right vantage point.

Peeta. “Heron”. In collaboration with Monochronicle/Iryna Kanishcheva. Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (photo © B4flight Films)

“Through the use of anamorphism, he creates a surreal space where selected symbolic elements live side by side,” says the organizer, and you can see that the sophistication of the presentation supercedes the typical fare offered by a municipally funded public mural. Undoubtedly it is largely due to the precise eye and cunning mind of Peeta, who has constructed exquisite optical illusions on walls all around the world.

Peeta. “Heron”. In collaboration with Monochronicle/Iryna Kanishcheva. Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (photo © B4flight Films)
Peeta. “Heron”. In collaboration with Monochronicle/Iryna Kanishcheva. Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (photo © B4flight Films)
Peeta. “Heron”. In collaboration with Monochronicle/Iryna Kanishcheva. Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (photo © B4flight Films)
Peeta. “Heron”. In collaboration with Monochronicle/Iryna Kanishcheva. Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (photo © B4flight Films)
Peeta. “Heron”. In collaboration with Monochronicle/Iryna Kanishcheva. Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (photo © B4flight Films)
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Leon Keer Bellows “Dream Big” in Gainesville.

Leon Keer Bellows “Dream Big” in Gainesville.

“Dream Big” or go home, champ. We don’t need any half-solutions today. This alligator with a hidden nature revealed in its’ shadow appears quite prepared to bellow and bite in Gainesville, Florida.

Leon Keer. “Dream Big” Gainesville, Florida. February 2020. (photo and curation by Iryna Kanishcheva)

The Dutch pop surrealist and anamorphic muralist Leon Keer imagined the scene here with a regional animal archetype and took it for a spin. The innovative artist always has hidden magic in his works, even if you don’t realize it the first time you look. So it was an original and slick decision by the team who invited him and his assistant Massina to paint this new 20’ x 7’ mural on a retail store.

Shout out to Iryna Kanishcheva, Deborah Butler and Mary Reichardt for making this project happen.

Leon Keer. “Dream Big” Gainesville, Florida. February 2020. (photo and curation by Iryna Kanishcheva)
Leon Keer. “Dream Big” Gainesville, Florida. February 2020. (photo and curation by Iryna Kanishcheva)
Leon Keer. “Dream Big” Gainesville, Florida. February 2020. (photo and curation by Iryna Kanishcheva)
Leon Keer. “Dream Big” Gainesville, Florida. February 2020. (photo and curation by Iryna Kanishcheva)
Leon Keer. “Dream Big” Gainesville, Florida. February 2020. (photo and curation by Iryna Kanishcheva)
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Thankful For Immigrants: Manolo Mesa paints Unity, Equality, and Inclusion in  Pennsylvania

Thankful For Immigrants: Manolo Mesa paints Unity, Equality, and Inclusion in Pennsylvania

Tomorrow the US marks the Thanksgiving holiday, our great non-religious gathering of families and friends that most people enjoy precisely because of its non-sectarian foundation. We break bread together and celebrate in a spirit of gratitude our brotherhood, sisterhood, goodwill, and the harvest.

Manolo Masa. “About The Community”. For SSJ Neighborhood Network. Erie, Pensylvania. November 2019. (photo © Iryna Kanishkeva)

For us at BSA, we’ll probably be thinking about this new wall in Pennsylvania that openly celebrates the many nationalities who live together here in relative harmony day after day, somehow building a sense of community despite our cultural differences.

Manolo Masa. “About The Community”. For SSJ Neighborhood Network. Erie, Pensylvania. November 2019. (photo © Iryna Kanishkeva)

Says the mural organizer Iryna Kanishcheva, “We managed to bring together a wonderful group of neighborhood residents, portraying a huge hug made up of all their ethnicities and ages.”

Initially drawn to the Rust Belt for jobs in industry and to escape famine, war, and economic disaster, the immigrants who first established the neighborhoods in this town of Erie were German, Polish and Irish. Later, some Greek and Russian. Today the new residents have been arriving from Bhutan, Syria, Iraq, the Congo, Somalia, Bosnia, Ukraine, Eritrea, and Liberia. Each immigrant story is uniquely theirs, and each uniquely American as it weaves with the stories of neighbors.

Manolo Masa. “About The Community”. For SSJ Neighborhood Network. Erie, Pensylvania. November 2019. (photo © Iryna Kanishkeva)

The question you may ask is “How do you say ‘Thanksgiving’ in all these new dialects in this town; The most common now are Nepali, Arabic, Swahili, French, Somali, Bosnian, Ukrainian, Russian, Tigrinya, and French- along with the existing vestiges of  German and Polish from earlier waves of immigrants.

Spanish Street Artist Manolo Mesa took his new photographic mural project quite seriously under the guidance of the folks at The Sisters of St. Joseph Neighborhood Network and asked for the most inclusive group of locals to gather to represent the current character of the city.”We gathered a group of neighbors, he took some pictures, and within a few days, the mural emerged.”   

Manolo Masa. “About The Community”. For SSJ Neighborhood Network. Erie, Pensylvania. November 2019. (photo © Iryna Kanishkeva)

“Each of these people feel proud of where they come from, live together and belong to their neighborhood,” the artist says on his Instagram page. “This Mural would not have been possible without you. A big hug.”

Manolo Masa. “About The Community”. For SSJ Neighborhood Network. Erie, Pensylvania. November 2019. (photo © Iryna Kanishkeva)
Manolo Masa. “About The Community”. For SSJ Neighborhood Network. Erie, Pensylvania. November 2019. (photo © Iryna Kanishkeva)
Manolo Masa. “About The Community”. For SSJ Neighborhood Network. Erie, Pensylvania. November 2019. (photo © Iryna Kanishkeva)
Manolo Masa. “About The Community”. For SSJ Neighborhood Network. Erie, Pensylvania. November 2019. (photo © Manolo Masa)
Manolo Masa. “About The Community”. For SSJ Neighborhood Network. Erie, Pensylvania. November 2019. (photo © Iryna Kanishkeva)

Artist: Manolo Mesa @manolo_mesaMural title:  About the Community  
Curator: Iryna Kanishcheva
Photographs: Iryna Kanishcheva 
Commissioned by SSJ Neighborhood Network

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Evoca1 and Rudy Daniels on the side of Methodist Towers in Erie, PA

Evoca1 and Rudy Daniels on the side of Methodist Towers in Erie, PA

Murals are making inroads into communities once again in ways that are meaningful and constructive, not only decorative.

Evoca1. Rudy Daniels. Erie, PA. October 2019. (photo courtesy of Iryna Kanishcheva)

An outgrowth of the illegal graffiti and Street Art movements, this new mural renaissance has once again engaged with the community rather than functioning as a means of protest or defiance. In our minds, art can serve many important roles in the communication of principles, ideas, values – and each expression in public space contains an opportunity for better, stronger, connections among community members.

Evoca1. Rudy Daniels. Erie, PA. October 2019. (photo © Bryan Geary)

Here in Erie, Pennsylvania a senior member of the community has been given an honor by Dominican born artist, muralist & designer EVOCA1, who painted a soaring portrait of Rudy Daniels on the side of Methodist Towers, where he lives. Blind since age 20 from a gunshot wound, the 71 year old has been a positive and familiar fixture on area streets and sidewalks and businesses for quite some time.

Evoca1. Rudy Daniels. Erie, PA. October 2019. (photo courtesy of Iryna Kanishcheva)

A project endorsed by the mayor, with local artists assisting with the mural using materials purchased in the community, honoring a neighborhood member? Here is one sincerely positive outcome to a global mural movement that grew into something quite positive.

A shout out to curator Iryna Kanishcheva, organizer Patrick Fischer, and Erie Arts & Culture for making this project happen.

Evoca1. Rudy Daniels. Erie, PA. October 2019. (photo courtesy of Iryna Kanishcheva)
Evoca1. Rudy Daniels. Erie, PA. October 2019. (photo courtesy of Iryna Kanishcheva)
Evoca1. Rudy Daniels. Erie, PA. October 2019. (photo © Bryan Geary)
Evoca1. Rudy Daniels. Erie, PA. October 2019. (photo © Bryan Geary)
Evoca1. Rudy Daniels. Erie, PA. October 2019. (photo courtesy of Iryna Kanishcheva)
Evoca1. Rudy Daniels. Erie, PA. October 2019. (photo © Bryan Geary)

Recent stories with EVOCA1 on BSA:

“Além da Rua” Festival Sails the Sea by the Port of Pecém, Brazil

EVOCA1 Addresses Addiction in Providence, RI

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Zedz and Shadings of Mondrian for New Mural “Erie”

Zedz and Shadings of Mondrian for New Mural “Erie”

Dutch abstract painter Zedz likes to think of his new work in Erie, Pennsylvania as attempting to create a symbiosis. A former graffiti writer, he says that it is the architecture that has inspired him here, and his draftsman eye may be informed perhaps by Mondrian as well.

Zedz. Erie, Pensylvania. 2019/ (photo courtesy of Iryna Kanishcheva)

A layering of geometries are placed in a diagonal dance across the long walls, at once revealing grids, sharp lines, gradiated shadings, punches of sharply shattered color, and enlarge digitization of black/white shapes – a field pattern of many squares and rectangles.

He says that he has hopes for viewers if you let yourself stare for a while at his piece, perhaps “losing yourself in space and time, becoming part of the architectural plan or in fact becoming a part of the graffiti presented.”

Zedz. Erie, Pensylvania. 2019/ (photo courtesy of Iryna Kanishcheva)

“Zedz seemed to be the perfect artist to visually change ordinary architecture, bring some depth and erase borders between windows and doors,” says curator Iryna Kanishcheva, who organized this project in the Pennsylvania town.

Patrick Fisher has a different take on the project – hiring an artist improves social cohesion and accentuates the value of certain areas of cities: “The vacant lot adjacent to the mural had a history of unfavorable behavior,” says from the organization called Erie Art & Culture.

Zedz. Erie, Pensylvania. 2019/ (photo courtesy of Iryna Kanishcheva)

“After the completion of the mural, overgrown weeds in the lot were cleared, disheveled vehicles were removed, and new lighting was installed,” says Mr. Fisher. “All of this creates a better sightline of the mural, but these additional investments also help make the surrounding area safer.”

Fair enough. Also it’s good to remember that young graffiti artists usually get their creative start painting in marginal parts of the urban landscape exactly like this, and are vilified or criminalized for it. Later, some of them actually get hired to paint murals.

Zedz. Erie, Pensylvania. 2019/ (photo courtesy of Iryna Kanishcheva)
Zedz. Erie, Pensylvania. 2019/ (photo courtesy of Iryna Kanishcheva)
Zedz. Erie, Pensylvania. 2019/ (photo courtesy of Iryna Kanishcheva)
Zedz. Erie, Pensylvania. 2019/ (photo courtesy of Iryna Kanishcheva)
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SatOne Leads Us to Lake Erie with “Flotsam”

SatOne Leads Us to Lake Erie with “Flotsam”

Like many North American cities, the so-called “free-trade” pacts, globalism, and corporate capitalism have left scars on this city by the great Lake Erie, so-named Erie.

Sat One. “Flotsam“. Dobbin`s Landing, Erie, Pennsylvania. (photo courtesy of Iryna Kanishcheva)

A maritime beacon awash in the middle class life blooming from industrialization in an earlier century, this city on the lake still feels a bit flush with its museums, roller-coasters, and summertime beach life.

A new mural project from Rafael Gerlich aka SatOne brings the idea of recovering from the storm, looking through what is remaining for the clues to the future. Calling this new 12,000 square foot mural “Flotsam” you can see a parallel between the what can be recovered after a natural storm and a man-made one.

Sat One. “Flotsam“. Dobbin`s Landing, Erie, Pennsylvania. (photo courtesy of Iryna Kanishcheva)

The Venezuelan living in Germany began with graffiti in the nineties but now more often swims in the seas of abstraction, directing large storms of his own, splashing walls with color and story for you to float upon.

Here on Erie Bay leading from the city of Erie, the maritime mixes with the futuretime, a stirring presentation for the city and the enormous, the great, lake before it.

Sat One. “Flotsam“. Dobbin`s Landing, Erie, Pennsylvania. (photo courtesy of Iryna Kanishcheva)
Sat One. “Flotsam“. Dobbin`s Landing, Erie, Pennsylvania. (photo courtesy of Iryna Kanishcheva)
Sat One. “Flotsam“. Dobbin`s Landing, Erie, Pennsylvania. (photo courtesy of Iryna Kanishcheva)
Sat One. “Flotsam“. Dobbin`s Landing, Erie, Pennsylvania. (photo courtesy of Iryna Kanishcheva)
Sat One. “Flotsam“. Dobbin`s Landing, Erie, Pennsylvania. (photo courtesy of Iryna Kanishcheva)
Sat One. “Flotsam“. Dobbin`s Landing, Erie, Pennsylvania. (photo courtesy of Iryna Kanishcheva)
Sat One. “Flotsam“. Dobbin`s Landing, Erie, Pennsylvania. (photo courtesy of Iryna Kanishcheva)

Artist: Sat One
Location: Observation deck of Dobbin`s Landing, Erie, Pennsylvanie
Curated by: Iryna Kanishcheva
Funded by: Erie Arts & Culture and Erie-Western PA Port Authority
Title: Flotsam 

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Etnik Splashes a Watery Icosahedron in Jacksonville, Florida

Etnik Splashes a Watery Icosahedron in Jacksonville, Florida

“If you look on the map, Florida is like Italy, all surrounded by water,” says Etnik as he finishes this new spatial composition of geometrical forms. “Ocean, river, fishes and everything that is in the water represented in the elements. Nature in opposition with geometric shapes.”

Etnik. Eikosi. In Collaboration with GNV Urban Art. Jacksonville, Fl. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

In fact he accounts for all five Platonic elements combined with a geometric shape for a series of walls he’s planning; the cube and the Earth, Air with the Octahedron, Fire with the Tetrahedron, and the Dodecadedron with the Universe.

Here in Jacksonville he’s not far from the Atlantic, St. John’s River, Nepture Beach – and the building itself houses a seafood market. With this environment lapping at his ankles wherever he turns, one can easily imagine his influences when conjuring and painting this 38 foot x 150 foot “Eikosi”, his largest mural ever, here organized by Iryna Kanishcheva.

Etnik. Eikosi. In Collaboration with GNV Urban Art. Jacksonville, Fl. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

The twenty-sided icosahedron overlooking a stream of cars on the highway is full of rippling, swirling, splashing aqua – something the Turin, Italy based Etnik finds refreshing and in alignment with his urban art practice.

“The icosahedron of Plato is a metaphor to represent the ocean sections created in my style,” he says. “Urban agglomerations and natural elements (that float in an indefinite space and represent the contradictions of the urban spaces we live in) is the line that always mark my evolving style in recent years, on the revenge of the nature on urbanization.”

Etnik. Eikosi. In Collaboration with GNV Urban Art. Jacksonville, Fl. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Etnik. Eikosi. In Collaboration with GNV Urban Art. Jacksonville, Fl. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Etnik. Eikosi. In Collaboration with GNV Urban Art. Jacksonville, Fl. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

 

Etnik. Eikosi. In Collaboration with GNV Urban Art. Jacksonville, Fl. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Etnik. Eikosi. In Collaboration with GNV Urban Art. Jacksonville, Fl. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Etnik. Eikosi. In Collaboration with GNV Urban Art. Jacksonville, Fl. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Etnik. Eikosi. In Collaboration with GNV Urban Art. Jacksonville, Fl. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

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Peeta Goes Mono on a 3D Piece in Gainesville, Florida

Peeta Goes Mono on a 3D Piece in Gainesville, Florida

“I went back to monochromatic pieces after a long time,” says Street Artist Peeta about his new anamorphic mural in Gainseville, Florida. His ability to master the optical illusion of three dimensions is well known and even revered by many – the result of talking measurements and doing calculations so that the geometric forms translate from the right point of view.

Peeta for GNV Urban Art LLC. Gainesville, FL. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

The Venice, Italy-based artist began writing graffiti in the early 1990s and developed his own precise and awe-striking 3D style and manner of working that has led him to opportunities to paint on walls and canvasses in many countries. Working in the context of the building here in West University Avenue, Peeta also playfully incorporates the existing windows into his mural.

Peeta for GNV Urban Art LLC. Gainesville, FL. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

“Windows on a wall can be an obstacle for many artists, but for some, it is an inspiration,” says Iryna Kanishcheva, who organized the wall. “Peeta elected them as the element to convey an anamorphic effect typical for his paintings. He extruded windows and used the natural color of the building creating a tone-on-tone sculptural effect”

Peeta for GNV Urban Art LLC. Gainesville, FL. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Peeta for GNV Urban Art LLC. Gainesville, FL. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Peeta for GNV Urban Art LLC. Gainesville, FL. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Peeta for GNV Urban Art LLC. Gainesville, FL. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

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Selections From “SHINE” Mural Festival in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Selections From “SHINE” Mural Festival in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Here are new images from St Petersburg, Florida, where The SHINE mural festival was thrown in September for the 3rd year in a row.

Kryptk. Shine Mural Festival. St. Petersburg, Florida. October 2017. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

“Shine is a good example of a mural project when the community is involved,” says an organizer Iryna Kanishcheva, who has had a great deal of experience working with Street Artists in the last few years, including a very successful program in Kiev.

Regarding this Floridian community she says, “They started in 2015 with many local artists and family-friendly public activities. The event received good support from the community, so much so in fact that produced more murals next year.”

Mikael B. Shine Mural Festival. St. Petersburg, Florida. October 2017. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Included this year are names you’ll find familiar like Cryptic, Hueman, Joram Roukes, Lauren YS and Yok & Sheryo. You’ll also find a fair share of local talents at SHINE because the festival makes a point to keep the mix local and international.

“They try to keep the ratio 5:10 local artists versus traveling artists, thanks to curator Chris Parks,” says Kanishcheva.

Axel Void . L. E. O. Shine Mural Festival. St. Petersburg, Florida. October 2017. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

So what stood out in 2017?

The difference in this year’s edition is an exhibition, a group show called “Outside In” with large-scale installations by The Yok and SheryoJames OlesonThe Artwork of Ricky WattsVitale Bros.Sentrock and artwork by many more,” says Kanishcheva. “I’d like to acknowledge Axel Void’s piece, which is based on a series called ‘Nobody.’”

“A few years ago Axel painted a mural in Atlanta and he used a portrait of a boy – a random image from the Internet. Months later he received an email from a man in the original photo – his sister had alerted him to it after spotting it in a magazine. Axel Void kept in touch with him and even developed an idea for the film, show and canvas series. One of them is here in the ‘Inside In’ collection.”

See the original Axel Void wall shot by Jaime Rojo at “Living Walls” in Atlanta that year here; Living Walls 2013 ALIVE in Atlanta

Hueman. Shine Mural Festival. St. Petersburg, Florida. October 2017. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Jose Mertz. Shine Mural Festival. St. Petersburg, Florida. October 2017. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Jujmo. Shine Mural Festival. St. Petersburg, Florida. October 2017. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Joram Roukes. Shine Mural Festival. St. Petersburg, Florida. October 2017. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)


2017 SHINE artists:

Axel Void & L.E.O.,Cryptic, Daniel “R5” Barojas, Herbert Scott Davis, Hueman, James Oleson, Joram Roukes, Jose Mertz, Jujmo, Lauren YS, Mikael B, Ricky Watts, Sentrock, Sam Young, Stephen Palladino, Suarezart, Thirst & Zulu Painter, Vitale Bros., Yok & Sheryo.


We wish to thank Iryna Kanishcheva for sharing her observations and photos with our BSA readers. Please visit http://kanishcheva.com/ to learn more about Ms. Kanishcheva projects.

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Xav Paints New Mural In Kiev and Meets Racist Resistance

Xav Paints New Mural In Kiev and Meets Racist Resistance

Spanish tattoo artist and muralist Javier Robledo aka Xav brought an enormous joyful boy to Kiev in Ukraine this summer, his largest mural ever at 70 meters high by 15 meters wide. He was pleased by his feat and gratified with the opportunity and result, as was Iryna Kanishcheva, co-founder of Art United Us who organized the wall. The beaming and bright boy looks like he is having a true belly laugh, elated by something, caught mid-adventure during his play day. Often a scene like this is considered the least likely to offend, a safe bet for a public mural.

Javier Robledo AKA Xav for Art United Us 2017. Kiev, Ukraine. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

What Xav didn’t expect was a bubbling racism directed toward his mural by some locals as he unveiled it across the wall; a virulent mini-chorus so suddenly loud that the project was halted for a few days when he was only about 40% finished. “Most of the neighbors liked it, but some people protested because the boy was black,” says the artist, “I was very surprised, because I had not foreseen a possible racist reaction to my work.”

Acrimonious conversations turned to near-threats from a vocal minority and more conversations and sheer determination were needed to push the project forward. Somehow the painting re-started and continued through the rain and winds and the other typical obstacles a public mural initiative normally encounters. Xav eventually completed the mural successfully, but that’s not to say that the negativity hasn’t taken a toll on some who were involved, even if they were pleased with the mural itself.

Javier Robledo AKA Xav for Art United Us 2017. Kiev, Ukraine. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

According to Kanishcheva, some of those neighbors who delayed the project included a former deputy head of police who lived in the area and who used blatantly racist terms to describe dark skinned people in his complaints, saying that he simply didn’t want to see this kind of image in his city.

Often one expects some complaints for any creative public art project; it is something any organizer will tell you they deal with. There simply isn’t unanimity of opinions on such matters. Kanishcheva laments that there also isn’t really an  accepted formula for selecting artists and art that everyone will be pleased with when putting together mural programs, and she reflects on some of the factors that help in the decision-making process.

“You can make a decision yourself and take all the responsibility along with the artist,” she tells us, “or you could create a curatorial team, as many would suggest. But the team must be not be made simply of those with art-related diplomas, but also those who have done a few mural projects and have a name in the Street Art world. Finally, to judge and to suggest to an artist what to paint, you have to pay him accordingly,” she says, announcing the kicker, “None of the artists who paint in Ukraine are paid.” You have to agree here that with a lack of financial renumeration for an artist, one should at least give him or her some personal latitude to create work that is satisfying to them as well. To us, that is a given.

Javier Robledo AKA Xav for Art United Us 2017. Kiev, Ukraine. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Art United Us has conceived of, funded, and produced about 50 new public murals in this city over the past five or so years, and along with some other mural initiatives, the total of new murals may total three times that. In her thoughts about the sheer number of new walls in such a relatively short time, Iryna says the city may need to take a break. Additionally, public projects like hers are not funded by the government and there are limited resources to execute the programs like these, compounding the difficulty of making them happen. Not that she isn’t committed to the positive results of public art programs.

When talking about this new mural, both artist and organizers still stand by it and are glad they persevered to complete it, even if it took a month instead of two weeks as planned. In Kanischeva’s view, the success of the program hinges on pushing questions about racism and other social issues like these to the fore, where they can be openly discussed.

Javier Robledo AKA Xav for Art United Us 2017. Kiev, Ukraine. (photo © Dronarium)

“Ukrainian population is totally white, except the guests of the city and some students from overseas. That’s why they simply couldn’t understand and said things like ‘why do we need this black boy here’.  Similar questions arose when Nunca created his mural for a city art project a while ago.”

“I wouldn’t call it racism,” she says, “it is rather a lack of understanding. Many Ukrainians are open minded and culturally developed, but there are still enough of those who spit, throw cigarette butts on the ground and Christmas Trees out of the window into the yard. It is not their fault that they are not properly educated and have these attitudes; it is a more general problem caused by anger, economic instability, dissatisfaction with the Government, unemployment, and hunger. Some of these folks were ready to protest and even cut the high voltage wires of the swing stage – putting an artist and themselves into a danger. To me it just looks like despair.”

Javier Robledo AKA Xav for Art United Us 2017. Kiev, Ukraine. (photo © Dronarium)

And maybe that proves the success of the program.

“It’s like a cultural injection with an unpredictable reaction – but it is good to see people react and think, because it makes you human,” she says. “For any country, regardless of the economic conditions, arts and education programs must exist. People learn and express their feelings through art and learn to start a dialogue. Art United Us brought a lot of artistic diversity in Kiev, but I feel like people may need some time to digest this.”


This article is also published on The Huffington Post
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Turbulent Waters In The Black Sea From Jake Aikman in Kiev

Turbulent Waters In The Black Sea From Jake Aikman in Kiev

Getting a feel for dramatically upscaling my process,” says London born Jake Aikman as he brings a foreboding and riling image of the Black Sea to Kiev in the Ukraine. Primarily a studio painter back in Cape Town, South Africa, where he obtained a Masters at Michaelis School of Fine Art, this is his first wall ever, and the emotional drama erupts to the surface in a very public way.

Jake Aikman for Art United Us 2017. Kiev, Ukraine. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Typically his natural canvasses of sweeping seascapes, remote coastlines, and dense forests are rich but calm, perhaps alluding to something beneath the pacifically ambiguous and scenic tableaux. After nine days in July painting this new wall for Art United Us here in Kiev, Aikman appears to be telling us about an aqueous turbulence gathering and materializing before our eyes, capturing with his layering technique the truly storied spirit of this sea, itself known for a turbulent mixing of two layers.

Jake Aikman for Art United Us 2017. Kiev, Ukraine. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Jake Aikman for Art United Us 2017. Kiev, Ukraine. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Jake Aikman for Art United Us 2017. Kiev, Ukraine. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)


Learn more about Jake Aikman HERE.

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