All posts tagged: Lapiz

Lapiz: Being Part Of It, and Liberté

Lapiz: Being Part Of It, and Liberté

Lapiz is the Hamburg-based street artist whose practice involves handmade stencils to convey his message to the public. He places them in many cities around Germany and internationally and he says he has finally found a way to convey something that has been on his mind since China hosted the Winter Olympics Games in 2022. He says he has a preoccupation with being a part of a team in collaboration with other teams where something big and vital is created. This has brought him to expand on a popular sports slogan in Germany: “Dabei sein ist alles,” or “it is more important to take part in something big than anything else.”

For his participation in this year’s edition of Ibug 2023 in Leipzig, Germany, he decided to use the slogan as the genesis for his contribution by way of illustrating with his stencils the meaning of the slogan.

LAPIZ. Dabei sein ist alles – It is all about being part of it. Ibug 2023. Leipzig, Germany. (photo © courtesy of the artist)

“Coincidentally, Leipzig is very fitting, as the world’s most important chip company, Taiwan’s TSMC, is building a factory in Dresden (about an hour’s drive from Leipzig). It is heavily supported by the state of Germany (contributing up to 5 billion Euros). This is also interesting as Germany, just like the majority of the world, still does not recognize Taiwan as an independent state but plays into China’s interpretation of it being a separatist province,” says Lapiz.

LAPIZ. Dabei sein ist alles – It is all about being part of it. Ibug 2023. Leipzig, Germany. (photo © courtesy of the artist)

“The central motif is China’s supreme leader Xi Jinping holding shackles; attached to his left are Tibet, the Uighurs, and most recently, Hong Kong. To his right, a shackle lies on the floor, waiting to catch the next “member”: Taiwan, which is depicted in the person of Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen.”

LAPIZ. Dabei sein ist alles – It is all about being part of it. Ibug 2023. Leipzig, Germany. (photo © courtesy of the artist)
LAPIZ. Dabei sein ist alles – It is all about being part of it. Ibug 2023. Leipzig, Germany. (photo © courtesy of the artist)
LAPIZ. Dabei sein ist alles – It is all about being part of it. Ibug 2023. Leipzig, Germany. (photo © courtesy of the artist)

Lapiz says that he painted a second piece for the festival called “Liberté” (Freedom). According to the artist, freedom is one of the most pressing social and humanitarian issues currently occupying people’s minds on the world stage. He previously painted the female figure holding a brush with the word Liberté in Paris in 2017 in response to the attack on the Bataclan Theater, and in support of the victims and the survivors. So Liberté appears as a recurring theme for the street artist.

“More than a year ago, Russia invaded Ukraine, which since then has fought for its freedom. For months, the people of Iran have been fighting in a new revolution for the rights and lives of Iranian women. Everywhere in the world, there is still much to do to get equal rights for all genders.” Lapiz

LAPIZ. Liberté. Ibug 2023. Leipzig, Germany. (photo © courtesy of the artist)

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Lapiz: Drowning Refugees and Child’s Play in the Mediterranean

Lapiz: Drowning Refugees and Child’s Play in the Mediterranean

“Happy kids are playing the game, but something is off, the chairs have been replaced by life vests and the EU is playing the music.”

Street artist LAPIZ says his darkly themed new stencil piece is based on the game ‘musical chairs’ and is pointing directly to the number of refugees who drown in the Mediterranean Sea. So many die so frequently that people in Europe have grown tired from the news, he says. And that’s why he’s depicted this ‘game’ of children playing with life vests.

Lapiz. “Reise nach Lesbos (Dancing Chairs of Lesbos)“. For UNartig Festival on the occasion of the opening of the Urban Nation Museum in Berlin new exhibition, “UN: TALKING and other Banana Skins”. (photo © Lapiz)

“It is supposed to look that way because it became normal that people are drowning in the Mediterranean which is why we do not hear anything about it anymore,” he says.

Part of Urban Nation museum’s UNartig Festival, where artworks are intended to catalyze discussion, the new work is entitled “Reise nach Lesbos” (Dancing Chairs of Lesbos). The reference to Lesbos in this case of course, is to the large number of refugees living there in camps, many of whom would like to move to Europe.

“About 50% of people fleeing via the Mediterranean are underage,” LAPIZ tells us. That fact alone is enough to confirm that this new work is not childs’ play.

Lapiz. “Reise nach Lesbos (Dancing Chairs of Lesbos)“. For UNartig Festival on the occasion of the opening of the Urban Nation Museum in Berlin new exhibition, “UN: TALKING and other Banana Skins”. (photo © Lapiz)
Lapiz. “Reise nach Lesbos (Dancing Chairs of Lesbos)“. For UNartig Festival on the occasion of the opening of the Urban Nation Museum in Berlin new exhibition, “UN: TALKING and other Banana Skins”. (photo © Lapiz)
Lapiz. “Reise nach Lesbos (Dancing Chairs of Lesbos)“. For UNartig Festival on the occasion of the opening of the Urban Nation Museum in Berlin new exhibition, “UN: TALKING and other Banana Skins”. (photo © Lapiz)
Lapiz. “Reise nach Lesbos (Dancing Chairs of Lesbos)“. For UNartig Festival on the occasion of the opening of the Urban Nation Museum in Berlin new exhibition, “UN: TALKING and other Banana Skins”. (photo © Lapiz)

Urban Nation Museum in Berlin’s new exhibition, “UN: TALKING and other Banana Skins” is open to the public. Click HERE for details and schedules.

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Lapiz Creates Socially Minded Installations for Kunstlabor in Munich

Lapiz Creates Socially Minded Installations for Kunstlabor in Munich

Painted in the stairway of Kunstlabor in Munich for their second Urban Art show, street artist and immunologist Lapiz brought his strong opinions and shares them with you here.

There is no Planet B

A searing damnation of the 1st world consumer mentality, Lapiz critiques the guy in this scene, finding him guilty of oblivious attitudes and self-serving behaviors.

“A man is sitting in a comfortable lounge chair escaping into the digital world. Maybe, he watches a documentary about the “green lung” – the untouched part of the Amazon rainforest on Netflix. As he is sitting there enjoying himself he does not pay any attention to his surroundings. The almond milk in his feel-good tote bag might protect dairy cows but their plantations demand so much water that vast areas are running dry. He doesn’t pay attention to the rose that is cultivated cheap in Africa and flown to Europe for Valentine’s Day (he is a romantic after all), nor the energy used to order his VR glasses or streaming. Instead of enjoying nature as it is, a parallel, untouched universe is consumed.”

Lapiz. “There is no Planet B”. Detail. Munich, February 2022. (photo © Lapiz)
Lapiz. “There is no Planet B”. Detail. Munich, February 2022. (photo © Lapiz)
Lapiz. “There is no Planet B”. Munich, February 2022. (photo © Lapiz)
Lapiz. “There is no Planet B”. Munich, February 2022. (photo © Lapiz)

Still Love and Wallporn
For his second installation Lapiz says he wanted to question how the female body and sexuality are viewed in public.

“Commonly, the female body is sexualized in advertisements, media, pornography, or prostitution while female sexuality and normal bodily functions are deemed private or even taboo (period shaming, pinky gloves). Disguised as fancy wallpaper and hiding in plain sight are all sorts of sex toys: dildos, vibrators, etc. The flowers of the still life (“Still Love”) look a bit off as they show soft tampons, which are also often used by prostitutes to keep on working. My motive was to try and take these seemingly private things that are supposed to happen behind closed doors and show them as what they are – normal and beautiful.”

Lapiz. “Still love” & “Wallporn”. Munich, February 2022. (photo © Lapiz)
Lapiz. “Wallporn.” Munich, February 2022. (photo © Lapiz)
Lapiz. “Still love” & “Wallporn.” Munich, February 2022. (photo © Lapiz)

Also included in the show were Sebastian Bühler, Miriam Ganser, Patricija Gilyte, Julia Klemm, Eva Krusche, Lando, Lapiz, Christine Liebich, Loomit, Timur Lukas, Sophia Mainka, Daniel Man, Nina Annabelle Märkl, Bernhard McQueen, Marlene Meier, Ray Moore, Monika Morito, Matthias Mross, Ena Oppenheimer, Esther Irina Pschibul, Cornelia Rapp, Felix Rodewaldt, Sophie Schmidt, Magdalena Waller, Matt Wiegele, Zrok, and Ian Zak. Learn more about KunstLabor HERE.

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Double Putin by Lapiz

Double Putin by Lapiz

Observing the events of the last weeks and today on the world stage, we are reminded of this street art piece created by artist Lapiz in Lemwerder, Germany in 2018.

“I painted it during the time that the FIFA WorldCup took place in Russia,” the artist tells us, “and it was intended to highlight Putin’s narcissism and homophobia.” You can see the reference to homophobia in the artist choice of multiple colors that are in the LGBTQ pride flag.

Blatant narcissism comes to mind today as Putin has shocked the world by the provocative act of invading Ukraine for no clear reason aside from a desire to dominate.

It’s four years old, this piece, but Lapiz remarks, “Looking at the events of the last few days it is of course very up to date.”

Lapiz. “One Love”. Detail. Lemwerder, Germany. (photo © Lapiz)
Lapiz. “One Love”. Detail. Lemwerder, Germany. (photo © Lapiz)
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Lapiz: HO HO HO and a Sad Stencil About Anti-Vaxxers and Hospitals

Lapiz: HO HO HO and a Sad Stencil About Anti-Vaxxers and Hospitals

“This is not a piece about gloating but about the anger I feel,” says street artist Lapiz about his newest public stencils renders beautifully the jarring facts of hospital workers right now in overwhelmed hospitals everywhere.

“I’ve been shocked to see the nurses wearing so much protective gear that one can not see their faces, nothing really that identifies them as caring,” he remarks on the healthcare professionals who cover their faces, then feel compelled to tape a photo of them on the outside of their uniform to reassure patients that there is a warm smiling person under all those layers.

Lapiz. Hamburg, Germany. (photo © Lapiz)

For all you know, it could be Santa under there this Christmas.

For another consecutive holiday season, many of us, like those in Germany, are finding that they live in a hotspot for infections again. And some have become patients.

“But this is how intensive care units now look like since they are overrun by infected antivaxxers,” he says. “This is not a painting of schadenfreude but of anger. It shows the Christmas that many of these disbelievers are facing for a final time.” Oof! There are many complex feelings rolled into this one obviously.

“Merry Christmas from Germany.”

Lapiz. Hamburg, Germany. (photo © Lapiz)
Lapiz. Hamburg, Germany. (photo © Lapiz)
Lapiz. Hamburg, Germany. (photo © Lapiz)
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Lapiz Suffering From  “Reisefieber” (Travel Fever)

Lapiz Suffering From “Reisefieber” (Travel Fever)

Hamburg-based Lapiz is lamenting the current state of vaccines and Covid-19 limitations on the average German’s ability to travel. As spring is on the cusp, and Easter holidays are only a couple weeks from now, he admits to suffering from “Reisefieber”, or travel fever.

A global citizen, Lapiz also highlights the hypocrisy of so-called “western” developed economies worrying about taking vacations while other countries haven’t even seen the vaccine.

Lapiz “Reisefieber”. Hamburg, Germany. (photo courtesy of the artist)

“Rich countries, which count for ~ 14 % of the world’s population, have bought 54 % of the global available vaccine doses while many countries like Nigeria, with a population of 200 Million, do not get any,” he says. “In January this year, 25 people in all of Africa had been vaccinated compared to 39 million in rich countries. While we are getting back to normal life including travel to exotic locations, these countries will not get any glimpse of it in the years to come.”

As ever Lapiz is using his street art to critique gently his society, and possibly himself. This new intervention takes a plaintive look at a “typical” traveler transfixed with a trifle of wanderlust.

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COVID-19 365 Days Later; Art in the Streets That Narrated a Pandemic

COVID-19 365 Days Later; Art in the Streets That Narrated a Pandemic

What the hell just happened? Has it been a year? Or has it been 10 years? Or just one long nightmare/daymare? Or has it been 10 years? Did we already ask that?

In March 2020 we awoke to a world that was transforming before all of our eyes, yet we felt so cut-off from it and each other. The first days seem so long ago as we mark the first anniversary of the pandemic. Still, the initial shock of those days resonates in our chests so strongly that we confidently talk about a collective global trauma that has indelibly marked a generation.

Pobel. Stavanger, Norway. March 14, 2020. (photo © Tore Stale Moen)

From Stockholm to Mexico City to Barcelona to Bethlehem to New York to LA, BSA brought you street art that was responding with fear, derision, critique, hope, and humor to the never-static, always evolving barrage of Covid news. Stuck inside and afraid to expose ourselves to each other, we New Yorkers became accustomed to experiencing the outdoors only through our windows, connecting with neighbors we’ve never met who were also banging pots and pans or clapping and waving and yelling.

We listened to ambulances screaming past our windows every half hour or so during those first weeks, imagining the torn families, the terrified fellow New Yorkers now being rushed to the hospital and separated from their loved ones without a goodbye, gasping for air. We wondered if we would be next.

Jilly Ballistic and Sack Six. Manhattan, NYC. March 23, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

When we did go to the streets, they were empty – or nearly. In New York this was unheard of. In this bustling, noisy metropolis, we experienced a daily disconcerting quiet. That is, until the killing of George Floyd by cops finally pushed the anger/anxiety into the streets all summer.

The deadly hotspot of New York quelled, but the fires of Covid spread west, grabbing communities who thought they would avoid impact. At the same time, local, state, and national leaders fumbled and argued or famously callously ignored the desperation of citizens, occasionally admirably filling the shoes they were elected to occupy, often misstepping through no fault of their own.

Pure Genius. Manhattan, NYC. March 23, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We have no particular wisdom to offer you today beyond the obvious; this pandemic laid bare inequity, social and racial and class fault-lines, the shredded social net, the effect of institutional negligence, the ravages of 40 years of corporate privatization, and the power of community rising to the occasion to be in service to one another in ways that made us all more than proud.

Here are some of our favorite Covid-themed street art pieces from over the last year, a mere sampling of the artistic responses. Interspersed we paste screenshots of the daily events (via Wikipedia) in 2020 that shaped our lives, and our society.

We mourn the losses of family and friends and the broken hearts and minds in all of our communities. And we still believe in the power of art to heal and the power of love to balance our asymmetries.

Trusto Corp. Los Angeles, CA. March 26, 2020. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Lapiz. Hamburg, Germany. March 30th, 2020. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Tag Street Art. Tel-Aviv, Israel. March 31, 2020. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Phlegm. April 6, 2020. London, UK. (photo courtesy of the artist) Phlegm created a visual diary of his experience with the Pandemic. We published his diary HERE
Don Langrend for USA Today Network. On April 13, 2020, we published a compilation of political cartoons with views on the Pandemic. Click HERE to see the whole collection.
Alessio-B. Padua, Italy. April 15, 2020. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Banksy. London, UK. April 19, 2020. (photo Instagram)
Shepard Fairey. Los Angeles, CA. April 20, 2020. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Banksy “The Girl with a Pierced Eardrum” Bristol, UK. April 23, 2020. (photo © Reuters/Rebecca Naden)
Cake Stencils. Bethlehem, Israel. May 10, 2020. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Almost Over Keep Smiling. Manhattan, NY. May 15, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Captain Eyeliner. Manhattan, NY. May 15, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
SacSix. Manhattan, NY. May 15, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Oliver Rios. May 15, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Teo Vazquez. Barcelona, Spain. May 25, 2020. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Adam Fujita. Brooklyn, NYC. May 25, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada. Queens, NYC. June 2nd. 2020. (photo © Just A Spectator)
Russian Doll NY. Manhattan, NYC. June 6, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Gianni Lee. Manhattan, NYC. June 13, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Various & Gould. Berlin, Germany. June 19, 2020. (photo courtesy of the artists)
Sara Lynne-Leo. Manhatttan, NYC. June 27, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Stikman. Manhatttan, NYC. June 27, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentifed artist. Brooklyn, NYC. July 18, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
De Grupo. Manhattan, NYC. August 1, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sticker Maul. Manhatttan, NYC. August 6, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Fintan Magee. Queensland, Australia. August 16, 2020. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Persak. San Miguel De Allende, Mexico. August 23, 2020. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Novy. Manhatttan, NYC. August 29, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Asbestos. Cork, Ireland. September 8, 2020. (photo courtesy of the artist)
1111 Army. Brooklyn, NYC. September 12, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist. Brooklyn, NYC. September 12, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Raddington Falls. Manhattan, NYC. September 26, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Faust. Manhattan, NYC. September 26, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Pure Genius. Manhattan, NYC. October 31, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
I Heart Graffiti. Manhattan, NYC. November 14, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
UFO 907 in collab with MUK 123. Manhattan, NYC. December 15, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
The Creator. Manhattan, NYC. December 28, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
City Kitty. Manhattan, NYC. December 28, 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Karma. Barcelona, Spain. January 4, 2020. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Pobel. Stavanger, Norway. February 11, 2021. (photo © Tore Stale Moen)
Aya Brown. Brooklyn, NYC. February 27, 2021. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Manhattan, NYC. March 06, 2021 (photo @ Jaime Rojo)
Paolo Tolentino. Manhattan, NYC. March 07, 2021 (photo @ Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist. Manhattan, NYC. March 07, 2021 (photo @ Jaime Rojo)

As NYC went on complete lock-down and New Yorkers were ordered to remain in their homes in complete isolation the city’s residents organically joined together in a collective 7:00 pm ritual in support to the first responders. To the nurses, doctors, paramedics, trash collectors, public transportation, police, fire fighters, supermarkets workers etc…with their services and sacrifices we, the residents of this megalopolis were able to keep out hopes for brighter days to come.

Video of four former presidents urging people to “roll up your sleeve and do your part” and get the vaccine.

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Grumpy Elf: Lapiz in Hamburg Says “Go Shopping!”

Grumpy Elf: Lapiz in Hamburg Says “Go Shopping!”

Are you finding it challenging to get excited about Christmas this year? Santa says “Go Shopping”!

Lapiz says, “Alles für das BIP” or “All is for the GDP (Gross Domestic Product)”

Lapiz. AllHailTheGDP. Hamburg, Germany. (photo courtesy of the artist)

This grouchy-looking elf by Lapiz in this shopping district in the Sankt Pauli district in Hamburg Germany doesn’t look like he wants to be helpful. The stenciled piece is only in a t-shirt and a grimace in this normally busy area. His T-shirt lists the cultural items that are all restricted because of Covid.

But shopping? That is allowed.

“What really matters to society, what really counts – and what defines the system – is the ever-growing economy,” Lapiz opines. “We shall reduce our social contacts so we can consume. Restaurants and Bars need to close, socialising and eating is not important anymore, neither is culture. Even worse it is punishable.”

“All hail the GDP,” says Lapiz, “Who needs to be happy anyway?”

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The Covidiot, Suspended Liberty, and Corona Isolation : Lapiz in Hamburg

The Covidiot, Suspended Liberty, and Corona Isolation : Lapiz in Hamburg

Corona has killed off the street art festivals in many ways. These days we think that all street art is local, and the nature of the graffiti street scene is changed by it as well. Additionally with so many people out of work, many artists have more time, we see more thoughtfully considered pieces and perhaps better executed pieces. Just a theory.

Since the beginning of the Corona pandemic, Lapiz says that he has gone back to his earlier days more than a decade ago: posters and wheatpaste. Living in Hamburg, Germany now, he has travelled to places like New Zealand and parts of Africa and South America in the past, but right now he’s more focused on developing work with a message – partly as a way to communicate ideas to passersby but partly as a way to contemplate complex modern matters. Today Lapiz tells BSA readers in his own words about three recent socio-political issues, with his own approach to critique.

The Covidiot

Lapiz. The Covidiot. (photo © Lapiz)

Again, time has passed, restrictions have further been lifted, travel is possible again, so are services at church, the museums are open again. Protests are possible if the rules of social distancing and wearing a mask are observed. Rightfully, people started to protest against the restrictions implemented by the government, but a small group took the stage. The Covidiot, according to the urban dictionary, is a person ignoring the warnings regarding public health and safety.

On top of that all kinds of wild stories are spun to explain the virus in ways that can be interpreted as anti-Semitic. The challenge for me to address this was to not resort to the obvious and paint a mask; but here it had to be done. But here the black-white-red mask is covering the eyes. The colours are taken from the Reichs-flag, a symbol of all those rejecting the legitimacy of the modern German state. Here it was used as a metaphor for people blinded by anti-Semitic propaganda something all Corona-deniers around the world have in common,

So far, the Covidiot is the last entry in this body of work. However, the pandemic is not over and it is just days since the best-known Covidiot in the world tested positive. We will see what other challenges lay ahead.

Liberty Suspended

Lapiz. Liberty Suspended. (photo © Lapiz)

The feeling of loneliness did not go away, but it felt as if the people adapted to it, the new normal, this is what life is now. Since the first intervention of this piece on the street some time has passed and the second installment was glued up on the same poster board a few weeks after the restriction of the lockdown were loosened. While supermarkets, shops and restaurants were allowed to open again, most other things are strictly forbidden and many liberties granted in the constitution are “temporarily” suspended in favour of safety and security.

So, while shopping was possible, protest wasn’t, religious groups could not gather, access to playgrounds was restricted and culture was declared obsolete. A new feeling came about, disbelief: how easy it is to take human rights away. These printed big sheets are of the first articles of the German constitution, crossing the articles that are now deemed to be irrelevant to the system. Onto this changed constitution is painted the universal symbol of freedom, Miss Liberty, wrapped in banner tape used by police to mark restricted areas.

The C-Word

Lapiz. The C Word. (photo © Lapiz)

A girl hugging herself, surrounded by a yellow social-distancing hoola-hoop was the first piece – it is glued on a poster stand that is normally reserved for local politicians. It was right in front one of the biggest supermarkets in Hamburg, one of the only shops open in the first weeks. Instead of focusing on the mask, I wanted to concentrate on what it would mean to be locked away in a city without having contact with anyone, not even your neighbours or friends.

How would you feel if everyone else is regarded as a potential threat – when hugging would be hazardous and close ones would not be allowed to be close anymore? Would you hug yourself, close your eyes and pretend it was someone else?

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The Thealang Collective: “El Cuco” Stealing Souls of Children, Notre Dame, & the Amazon  / Dispatch From Isolation # 45

The Thealang Collective: “El Cuco” Stealing Souls of Children, Notre Dame, & the Amazon / Dispatch From Isolation # 45

A new joint mural from LAPIZ and Elmar Karla as the newly formed “Thealang Collective”. Both formerly living in Argentina, the two artists have distinctly different styles to combine here in a scene from a fever dream in Hamburg, Germany.

Thealang Collective. Elmar Karla and Lapiz. “El Cuco”. Hamburg, Germany. (photo courtesy of Thealang)

And what a hot steamy shape-shifting surrealist diarama this is on a backyard wall in St. Pauli, full of fire and raging destruction and ultimately, deception, with the main character called EL CUCO.

The combination of cut stencils and fluidly brushed paint, the two say that El Cuco is a mystical creature who steals the souls of innocent children.  The Wikipedia entry says “El Cuco is a mythical ghostmonster, equivalent to the bogeyman, found in many Hispanophone and Lusophone countries.”

Thealang Collective. Elmar Karla and Lapiz. “El Cuco”. Detail. Hamburg, Germany. (photo courtesy of Thealang)

“The mural portrays the impact of today’s society,” they tell us as we gaze upon these exclusive shots, “the eternally growing economy is symbolized by the donations for the partially destroyed Notre Dame, and its effect is one of constantly destroying the environment, here symbolized by the burning green lung – the Amazon Rainforest.”

Thealang Collective. Elmar Karla and Lapiz. “El Cuco”. Detail. Hamburg, Germany. (photo courtesy of Thealang)

It’s fearfully treacherous, this adventurous scene mixing childhood myths and fun-loving characters who appear out of context under a sky of flames, Its an amalgam of the imaginations and experiences of the two –Elmar Karla’s painted characters from the comic world and the stencil techniques of Lapiz, who often likes to take a jab at socio-political themes.

Both members of Thealang have painted extensively internationally and have participated in festivals and exhibitions such as the Ibug, Meeting of Styles, Grenoble Street Art Fest and at the Street Art Museum Amsterdam.

Thealang Collective. Elmar Karla and Lapiz. “El Cuco”. Detail. Hamburg, Germany. (photo courtesy of Thealang)
Thealang Collective. Elmar Karla and Lapiz. “El Cuco”. Detail. Hamburg, Germany. (photo courtesy of Thealang)
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Lapiz “Life In Time Of Corona” Hamburg/Dispatch From Isolation #8

Lapiz “Life In Time Of Corona” Hamburg/Dispatch From Isolation #8

The intervention “Life in Time of Corona” is Lapiz’s attempt to fight the feeling of isolation and loneliness.

“I created and glued it up a day before the first phase of lockdown happened here in Hamburg, just in front of one of the biggest supermarkets in town,” he tells us.

Lapiz. “Life In Time Of Corona”. Hamburg, Germany. (photo © Lapiz)

The young woman exists with a margin of danger following her – a buffer band of gold that prevents any other person from getting to close. Of course, the hermit-like among the human family have been practicing social distancing for years, but for most people it’s new and unusual.

For most of us the time of self-isolation, quarantine, and illness is ahead of us and we have no idea how long this might take. We can stay in contact with loved-ones, family, friends, and almost forgotten acquaintances on the other side of the planet via email, skype or video link.

This might also be a great moment of solidarity and an opportunity for empathy, but the minimum safety distance of 6 feet also excludes affection, warmth and closeness.

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Lapiz Compares Religious Devotion to Addiction in Munich

Lapiz Compares Religious Devotion to Addiction in Munich

Lapiz quotes Karl Marx; “Die Religion … ist das Opium des Volkes” when he talks about the new ‘Opium Den’ stencil he has completed on a street in Munich, Germany.

“Religion is the opium of the people” is a close translation, and here he refers to the recently burned Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. With it he questions the priorities of people and what they do with their money.

“Notre Dame caught fire and within a few weeks 800 million euros were donated to rebuild it,” he says. “It was more than a church – it was a symbol for Western Society. But just imagine what social projects you could have supported with this kind of money.”

Lapiz. Munich, Germany. (photo © Lapiz)
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