All posts tagged: Mathis

Nice Surprise Festival / Re-Cap

Nice Surprise Festival / Re-Cap

As the ‘Nice Surprise’ Street Art Festival wrapped up, Pobel’s impressive mural on Stavanger silos brought a bit of theater and activism to the fore. With a short lead time and a lot to learn, this first-time run festival was a heartfelt invitation to twelve talented artists from around the world, asking them to share their creativity from a variety of different vantage points in the street art/graffiti parlance with folks in Stavanger. It’s been a journey of unveiling and discovery, and here at BSA, it’s been our pleasure to travel alongside, capturing every mural and sharing it with you. Today, we give you a one-stop recap of all the pieces from the first ‘Nice Surprise’ festival.

Tito Ferrara (Brazil). Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We want to say thanks to Atle Østrem, Pøbel, Tore Pang, Izabell Ekeland, and Stine Oliversen for their gracious hospitality, enthusiasm, and attention to detail. We also wish to express our gratitude to Ian Cox, Tor Ståle, and Ludvig Hart for sharing their photographs with us. Thank you also to the great people we talked with on the streets and at our formal presentation at the theater. Perhaps we’ll see you next year!

Tito Ferrara. Detail. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Pøbel. (Norway). Nice Surprise Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Ian Cox)
Pøbel. Detail/WIP. Nice Surprise Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Ian Cox)
Kjell Pahr Iversen (Norway) & Atle Østrem (Norway). Nice Surprise Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Ludvig Hart)
Kjell Pahr Iversen & Atle Østrem. Nice Surprise Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Kjell Pahr Iversen & Atle Østrem. Detial. Nice Surprise Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Ludvig Hart)
Gary Taxali (Canada). Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Gary Taxali (Canada). Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Gary Taxali (Canada). Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Tamara Alves (Portugal). Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Tamara Alves. Detail. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Tamara Alves. Detail. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Doze Green. (USA). Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Doze Green. Detail. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
TelmoMiel. (The Netherlands). Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
TelmoMiel. Detail. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Belin. (Spain). Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sofles (Australia) Mathis (Norway). Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sofles & Mathis. Detail. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sofles (Australia). Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sofles. Detail. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sofles, Smug One, Milliana, and Norse. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Sofles, Smug One, Milliana, and Norse. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Sofles, Smug One, Milliana, and Norse. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Sofles, Smug One, Milliana, and Norse. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Nychos. (Austria). Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Nychos. Detail. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

In case you missed any of them, here are our postings from the festival:

Nice Surprise! Stavanger, Norway – Sofles & Friends Paint a Train for New Festival

Sofles & Mathis – Nice Surprise – Stavanger

Nychos Surprises Surreally – Nice Surprise Festival, Stavanger, Norway

Doze Green Spirits – Nice Surprise Festival – Stavanger

Belin and Ragnar Lodbrok: Tribute to a Viking in Battle at Nice Surprise Festival – Stavanger

Tamara Alves, a Car Engulfed in Flames – Nice Surprise Festival – Stavanger

“Re-Shaping Reality” with Telmo Miel at Nice Surprise Festival in Stavanger

Toilet Paper, Sparrows, and Neighbors: Telmo Miel Pt 2 in Stavanger

Gary Taxali at the Podium and on the Wall at Nice Surprise Festival – Stavanger

Tito Ferrara, Two Jaguars, and a Brazilian in Stavanger – Nice Surprise Festival

Faces from the Streets of Stavanger

Taxali Sails Into Street Art at “Nice Surprise” – Part 2

Unveiling Atle Østrem: A Fusion of Urban Narratives and Personal Expression

Unveiling Atle Østrem: A Fusion of Urban Narratives and Personal Expression

Modest Stencils to Towering Facades: Pøbel’s Path to Creation, Curation, Community

A Surprise Collab on Three Walls: Kjell Pahr Iversen & Atle Østrem in Stavanger

Norwegian Generations: Kjell Pahr Iversen & Atle Østrem Create Triptych in Stavanger :Part II

From Grain Silos to Grand Canvases: Pøbel’s Tribute to Norway’s Farming Frontline

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Sofles & Mathis – Nice Surprise – Stavanger

Sofles & Mathis – Nice Surprise – Stavanger

Experience the synergy of history and contemporary urban art practice during this summer’s Nice Surprise street art festival with BSA in this Norwegian city. Join us as we celebrate Stavanger’s 900-year milestone with a new cadre of artists and programming that continues the modern heritage of this fortunate city on the North Sea with street art and graffiti.

Brisbane-based Sofles is an Australian graffiti writer and street artist known for his exceptional skills in both graffiti and mural art. Known for his distinct style, and mastery of many styles in graffiti, he’s been honing his skills since the late 90s. He’s developed a unique and versatile style that blends graffiti lettering, characters, and abstract elements – always infused with movement and a limitless sense of discovery.

Sofles & Mathis. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Here’s a wall he did a collaboration on with Mathis, a straight up Norwegian painting pro with lots of commercial experience and respect in the graffiti game. Mathis Anvik has a lot of great work in many styles on his social media, including stuff from Vestfold Kunstdekor, a company that specializes in painting buses, or RUSSEBUSSER – often known as party buses used by Norwegian high school graduates. But that’s another story

Sofles & Mathis. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Sofles was the very first artist to paint in Stavanger, Norway for this first edition of Nice Surprise!, an auspicious and new Street Art Festival that will get its wings throughout the summer in this Nordic city. While in town, Sofles painted a whole train with his pals Smug One, Milliana, and Norse, which you can read all about it here. He also painted this wall in collaboration with Mathis and a wall in the downtown center of the city by himself. Tor Ståle Moen, a resident of Stavanger and frequent BSA collaborator, shared the photos of the murals with BSA readers to enjoy.

Sofles & Mathis. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Sofles & Mathis. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Sofles. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
Sofles. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)
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