All posts tagged: Tor Ståle Moen

Nice Surprise Festival / Re-Cap

October 12, 2023 Artists

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)

Tamara Alves (Portugal). 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)

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

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

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

July 27, 2023 Artists

Graffiti history and contemporary creativity merge this summer during the inaugural run of the Nice Surprise street art festival in the Norwegian city of Stavanger. Join BSA as we celebrate the city’s 900-year milestone with a new cadre of artists and programming that continues the modern heritage of this city on the North Sea with a season of new street art and graffiti.

Tamara Alves. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

“go on baby… burn a while”

Born in 1983, Tamara Alves is a Portuguese visual artist and illustrator based in Lisbon. Holding a degree in Arts from ESAD-IPL and a master’s in Contemporary Artistic Practices from FBAUP, she considers her figurative work as a form of activism in the streets.

Here in Stavanger, for the Nice Surprise festival, she creates a monochromatic scene enlivened by a burning car – an object she has used before to symbolize love, a relationship, a mutilating crash of the heart. The body is engulfed in flames while the figure stares at it dispassionately, possibly with red-rimmed eyes. Alves gives this mural the name “go on baby… burn a while”.

Her artwork weaves a visceral narrative, celebrating the raw, primal vitality of intense emotions and the transformation of connections. Through interactions between human and animal figures and natural landscapes, her universe embodies love in its rawest form – intertwined with wounds, pain, tears, but also pleasure, joy, and ecstasy. At times, her visual soliloquies resemble wildflowers thriving in the wilderness.

Since the early 2000s, Tamara Alves has participated in numerous projects, group and solo exhibitions, and impactful street art interventions. Her unmistakable presence has established her as one of Portugal’s most notable street artists, and her schedule of mural painting is seemingly overflowing.

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

July 25, 2023 Artists

Belin. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Street artist Belin grew up far from the Vikings in his home of Linares in Andalusia, Spain.

But that doesn’t mean he can’t paint a mural tribute to one of Stavanger’s heralded Vikings, Ragnar Lothbrok, on a wall in his post-neo cubist style here for the Nice Surprise Festival. Renowned for his exceptional photorealistic murals, this paint-wielding athletic warrior is celebrated on the street and in the gallery for his ability to create lifelike portraits that often incorporate cubism, distortion, and surrealism elements.

“Inspired by Ragnar Lodbrok, I play a Viking in battle,” he says on his Instagram.

A renewed enthusiasm for the history of conquerors from this part of the world is due in part to the success of onscreen series like “Norsemen”, “The Last Kingdom”, “Vikings: Valhalla”, and simply “Vikings”. Ragnar Lothbrok holds a significant place in both Norwegian and Viking history, representing the spirit of exploration, adventure, and valor that has become synonymous with the Viking Age. His connections to Stavanger, whether historical or mythical, have added to the city’s allure as a destination for those seeking to immerse themselves in the world of Norse mythology and Viking heritage. According to some sagas, Ragnar is said to have been born in the vicinity of Stavanger, although the exact location is disputed.

“Each mural is a new challenge since I love continuing to face large formats, continuing to work with the same energy as always and freehand,” Belin says of this new mural, “which is why I value my work so much. “Playing with the lines, with the space and the colors is what amuses me the most, and I think you can feel it when you see this mural.”

Self-taught, Belin holds his graffiti roots seriously, finding opportunity through experimentation and practice – and has left his mark on walls and buildings across the globe. From Spain, where he has been to cities like Jaén, Madrid, Barcelona, and Malaga, to the United States with murals showcased in Miami, Los Angeles, and New York, and across Europe in France, Italy, Portugal, and Belgium, he has also ventured to Latin American countries like Mexico and Argentina. He discovers new people, cultures, and histories wherever he goes and often paints them into the composition.

But Vikings? You only find them here, bro.

Doze Green Spirits – Nice Surprise Festival – Stavanger

July 18, 2023 Artists

Doze Green. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Bam!

Here’s the latest hit from the first-time street art festival Nice Surprise in Stavanger, Norway – a novel fusion of historical roots and contemporary brilliance showcased in the latest mural by the artist Doze Green. Born and bred on the vibrant streets of New York City, Green’s trailblazing journey in graffiti writing and breaking crews during the 1970s and 80s resonates deeply in the telling of this street art culture. With this modern expression as a mature visual artist today, it may strike you as a rare gift of great significance here – given his direct relationship to the foundational early days of graffiti and hip-hop.

As an original member of the iconic Rock Steady Crew, a pioneering force in hip-hop culture, Green’s mastery in breakdancing and subway-tagging graffiti informs the bedrock of his studio practice and public artworks. Venturing into uncharted territories, Doze Green’s contemporary canvasses embody a signature style of figurative abstraction and letterforms, interwoven with metaphysical inquiries about narrative, time, and the essence of existence.

Green has described his pieces as “biological entities; a swarm of arrows coming in from infinite perspective.” In this newest creation, “Spirits of the Midnight Sun,” Green draws inspiration from Norway’s enchanting 24-hour daylight periods that grace the northern region for three months every summer.

It is a pleasure to witness the artistic journey of Doze Green, and to see how it intertwines with the pulsating rhythm of life, art, and this modern city so far from his own. With his language of symbols and iconography, Green nods to the rich historical Nordic lore surrounding Norway’s natural wonders with much respect. The title also indicates that for the artist, the mural captures supernatural energies and mythic storytelling – through a lens of abstraction. In this context, the new work reads as an amalgamation of historical roots and contemporary vocabularies – and a reflection of the authentic voices of these streets.

Nychos Surprises Surreally – Nice Surprise Festival, Stavanger, Norway

July 11, 2023 Artists

Nychos, the distinguished Austrian illustrator, urban artist, graffiti artist, and muralist, has gained international acclaim for his incisive and scientifically anatomical creations exhibited across numerous cities worldwide. Born during the early 1980s, his surrealist style gradually took shape, evolving through a process of experimentation enriched by influences stemming from hunting, heavy metal, tattoo culture, and associated subcultures. Nychos consistently taps into his profoundly introspective nature and a yearning to deconstruct objects to unravel their inner workings.

Nychos. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

While participating in the inaugural Nice Surprise Festival in Stavanger, he presents “The Girl with the Tiger Tattoo,” a work imbued with profound personal significance. In a departure from his customary practice, Nychos even composed an Ode dedicated to this piece, a novel endeavor for the artist. While some may find themselves taken aback by the thematic content of his latest creation in this particular town, Nychos is well aware of the discerning nature of this audience, which has long celebrated the presence of exceptional artworks in the public realm.

Expressing his sentiments on his Instagram page, Nychos declares, “Stavanger has undeniably etched a special place in my heart.”

Sofles & Mathis – Nice Surprise – Stavanger

June 29, 2023 Artists

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

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

June 27, 2023 Artists

Experience the synergy of history and contemporary creativity 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.

The street art community is abuzz with anticipation for the newly sprung Nice Surprise! street art festival taking center stage in Stavanger, Norway (pop 150,000). Stavanger, as a champion for street art and graffiti, is perhaps better known for Nuart, the long-running transformative event that breathed new life into the city, attracting acclaimed artists from around the world and elevating intellectual discourse studying graffiti and street art. Now the city is giving the seal of approval to Nice Surprise to bring its own distinctive blend of artistic brilliance and community-based camaraderie to this oil capital of Scandinavia.

Nice Surprise likes to say that it is a festival organized by artists for artists. Pøbel and Atle Østrem are artists, co-founders, and part of the team. They are internationally known as pioneers and proponents of the street art scene and have been active for at least two decades. Nice Surprise is working this summer to bring some high-profile international and local artists – and some surprises – to the city from June through September.

In addition to being a meeting place for like-minded individuals passionate about street art, Stavanger is preparing to commemorate its 900-year anniversary. Nice Surprise will embrace historical neighborhoods like Pedersgata, Domkirken, and Ullandhaug to bring fresh ideas and art into these cherished locations. By merging contemporary street art with the city’s strong cultural legacy, the festival hopes to honor Stavanger’s past while sparking excitement with relevant new works that blend artistic brilliance with historical reverence, possibly provoking some introspection.

This summer BSA will be in Stavanger to bring you images and developments of Nice Surprise as an international and local roster of names come through town. Today we begin with a collaborative train piece by Sofles, Smug One, Milliana, and Norse. The train is what we believe is to be the first legal whole train to be put in regular traffic, where it will run over the entire festival period.

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

Milliana, and Norse. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Seagulls like to build their nests next to the tracks to keep warm from the heat that emanates from the rails and the stones. The trains move at a very slow pace in this area going in and out from the workshop buildings. The area is not too busy with almost no predators to fend off. Nice Surprise! Festival. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Pøbel Lifts a Hero Aloft in Norway

February 11, 2021 Artists

Norwegian street artist Pøbel made a splash last spring with his stencil of a passionate couple kissing with their masks. That was early in our understanding of how the virus might be spread. Today we see his newest piece that lifts a front line medical worker aloft, or rather Minister of Health Bent Høie does. It is good to see that the importance of masking is more evident.

Here on this clean concrete wall alongside car traffic, Pøbel references an arched pose from the ballet (or the movie “Dirty Dancing”) that gives us all a reason to breathe, to exult the love of life, to dance again.

Pøbel. Stavanger, Norway. 02/2021 (photo © Tor Staale–Moen)

Elle + Klone. Up North Fest X BSA: Røst, Norway. Dispatch 5

July 15, 2017 Artists

This is the third year for Northern Norway’s UPN Festival and this year it’s on an Island called Røst and includes a collection of artists eager to do site-specific and environmental works – one evolutionary development in the mural festivals that blossom throughout the world right now. This week BSA is proud to bring you images and interviews along with Urban Nation this year at UpNorth, where the seagulls never stop calling and the sun never goes down this time of year.

We wind up the week on the island of Røst with almost a mystical sense, perhaps because of the inspirational messages we continued to see within the statements of this year’s artists. Today we see the metaphorical storytelling of Elle at war on the seas and the striking installation by Klone Yourself (or Klone) called “The Songs of the Vikings”
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A surrealist illustrator experimenting with different styles and mediums on Street Art pieces and murals in cities, Klone’s works on walls often feature simplified and distorted forms, figures, and creatures occupying a space that is seemingly suspended in air. An uprooted Ukrainian immigrant now from Tel Aviv, the mid-30s artist is looking at existential matters today in the way you do when you have had to adjust to a radically new environment.

Klone. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

One examines fundamentals and pillars of a culture, its history, norms and language – and then struggles to find a place within it. For his installation in Norway, the artist studied the location and the history of the region, combined that study with his own history, and constructed “Viking” swords for a site specific piece that takes on many shadings of significance.

“The texts on the swords are coming from various sources: Viking poetry and songs, contemporary references like music and literature we grow up on, and personal remarks and thoughts on life and daily struggles,” says Klone about his striking installation by the sea. “In a way this is a series of protective runes, planted in the ground, like after a big battle, some of the text disappearing, some still exposed. Some of the truth is always gone, and it’s all relative.

Klone. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

BSA: Can you talk about this striking and meaningful installation you did by the sea for UpNorth?
Klone: My main goal for the UpNorth festival was to complete my installation that was planned specifically for it. The installation consists of wooden swords, cut out by me from found wood (mostly wood that was used for building houses on the island), with text written on the swords.

Later those swords got stuck into a hill structure on the island. This installation has and can have so many meanings, to both me and the random viewer, so I’ll explain some of my intention – and anyone else can take it somewhere else, as people already did while I was installing my piece and directly after it was completed.

The sword is a symbol of power through thousands of years. A wooden sword is a toy, meant to play with. In a way it is to prepare us for one day holding a real sword, real power, or at least real representation of it, no matter how prepared or not we are.

On a personal note – my name is Igor, and this is the name my mother gave me when I was born and later explained to me that she gave me a Viking name so I could grow to be a strong man. In a way I hope I did become kind of a Viking. A free man, at least as much as I’d like to think so, somewhat a pirate, and always on the move with deep respect for history and traditions as well as a love for innovation. For me this was a kind of a closure, to bring this installation to a place that felt like it’s meant to be.

Klone. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

BSA: How would you describe the environment working in Røst?
Klone Yourself: The Røst environment is insane. It feels like another planet over there and with the 24/7 daylight, its easy to feel so.

I think it’s amazing to experience a place so old and yet so wholesome and not destroyed by modern civilizations. Yes they have machines, Internet and restaurants, but it seems like the people just want to live their lives and are not really bothered by what’s happening around them.

BSA: How are you challenging yourself as an artist right now?
Klone Yourself: I’m challenging myself as an artist on a daily basis. My practice is always on a few levels of perception, depending on the time and the place of course. As I work in drawing, painting, installation, video and mural painting, the limits are far to be seen, and there’s so much to try and learn yet.

The most appropriate personal title for the piece is – “Song of the Viking” , as a tribute to songs written by Vikings to their gods, and as a tribute to this land now and then.

Klone. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

The American experimentalist Elle tries anything once – including fire extinguishers, rollers, aerosol, wheatpastes, silkscreens and bus stop takeovers – legal and illegal. Her illustrative style often centers around a fantastical avatar, a heroic and sensual woman who is exploring new psychological landscapes.

Here in Røst the heroine of a shipwreck casts a wide eye at you as she climbs through a tumultuous and harrowing sea storm. The metaphors are many and so is the range of Elles ever-increasing skills.

ELLE. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Our thanks to our partner Urban Nation (UN) and to photographer Tor Ståle Moen for his talents.

See our Up North roundup piece on The Huffington Post

Pastel + Lora Zombie. Up North Fest X BSA: Røst, Norway. Dispatch 4

July 13, 2017 Artists

“If you do this in London this would just be one wall out of many,” says UpNorth festival founder Gøran Moya,

“But on this island the artists can really make an impact. They can be part of changing history for this community. The festival is also all about doing this together. Because it’s such a small place the artists, crew and locals have a special opportunity to interact with each other. This makes the whole project more personal I think.”

We had asked him to contrast the nature of what we call “Street Art” in its original environment versus the experience of creating and seeing it here at UPN.

“I think this will have a greater impact. For the artists coming to such a remote place where there is no history of urban art, but also for the community of the island. Most people don’t know anything of this artistic expression and can be very sceptical in the beginning. But they have always ended up loving it. They also take a pride in this.”

“We’re just trying to have new work that brings a contrast – Like getting Pastel to paint his colorful expression on a island without almost any vegetation.”

An Argentinian architect and painter, Pastel routinely brings the natural world to the manmade irregular spaces in the built environments of modern cities. Not a stranger to the city, he’s equally engaged in the country – taking particular care to educate himself about the sliding matrix of environments that one walks through when visiting a place – social, historical, geological…

So it makes sense that his work here draws directly from the eating habits of sea and air in this land where both are the principal actors. His interesting twist is how flora becomes symbolic for social issues in Pastels projects – a catalyst for dialogue about the nature of nature and the nature of us.

BSA: Can you describe that shell/flower arrangement, how it is related to the local vegetation, what you learned about the geography/agriculture/topography on Røst?
Pastel: The painting is based on the local flora that grow during the artic summer (24hs sunny) and the marine imagery. The seagulls jump into the water and catch sea urchin, then they drop them in the ground to crack the shell and eat it.

You can find all over the island these empty shells covering the ground. Because of changing climate conditions and the noticeable jump from to a subpolar oceanic climate to a cold-summer Mediterranean climate, the flora has become endemic and unique to the region itself.

BSA: Can you talk about the greater significance of the work as it relates to environmental or social issues?
Pastel: In my painting I’m focusing on the flora as a way to talk about the local issues of each place I’m going to paint in. The issues may reference architecture and urban mistakes, socio-economical and historical problems. I think of my painting as a dynamic way to make architecture in public spaces (a kind of “urban acupuncture”), as a performance, hopefully improving the local identity of each place.

When I work on studio paintings I translate those meanings using poisonous plants instead of the local flora.

BSA:What are some of the challenges for you as an artist right now?
Pastel: I guess one ongoing challenge for me is to improve my painting techniques. My biggest challenge may be that I am a difficult critic with myself. Also when I think of the concept of painting on public areas, I feel a great responsibility about the work I create in public space.

Pastel. He thought he had completed his piece but then he had a change of heart and decided to switch the background color completely. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Known more as a fine art illustrator than urban artist, Russian born Lora Zombie brought her fantastical sensibility to this very grey area, injecting her self-taught style of art-making into the familiar environment.

Her world-wide collectors will probably not make it up here, but then again much of her success as an artist can be directly traced to her presence on the Internet – and of course bouyant personality and the ubiquitous shocking blue hair.

“Lalala!” Lora says when we ask her to answer a few questions about her image of a girl getting a ride on the back of a bird at UpNorth.

BSA: Can you tell us about the piece that you did for UpNorth?
Lora Zombie: So my piece is more about just good bright harmony and joyful vibe! I wanted to spread some bright and flying feeling for Røst island!

BSA: How would you describe the environment working in Røst?
Lora Zombie: The Environment was wonderful. It felt like artist camping – fun and childish.

BSA:How are you challenging yourself as an artist right now?
Lora Zombie: Animation is my challenge at the moment. Conceptual animated video clips.

Our thanks to our partner Urban Nation (UN) and to photographer Tor Ståle Moen for his talents.

See our Up North roundup piece on The Huffington Post

Spider Tag + NesPoon. Up North Fest X BSA: Røst, Norway. UPN Dispatch 3

July 12, 2017 Artists, Interview

This year we tried to focus more on installations/sculptures than earlier years,” says Gøran Moya of UpNorth Festival, pointing to a discipline within the organic Street Art milieu that is sometimes overlooked but is elemental to the spirit of free expression that one often discovers in abandoned places. “Spidertag did his light installations in a time where there is 24 hours of daylight, but everything turned out amazing!”

He’s speaking of the glowing geometric shapes inside of an old barn structure by the sea which Spanish Street Artist Spidertag has focused on as an enclosed dilapidated stage for this installation.

He began his string art about a decade ago and BSA may have been one of the first to publish it actually, transforming and framing spaces in abandoned or neglected venues, bringing a workman’s toolbox and an alchemists zeal for new astral formations in places where most had given up.

Now he has been toying with this glowing string perhaps in the hopes that in six months when this place is purely nocturnal there will be a radiant reminder of the summer in Røst.

BSA: Can you tell us about the piece that you did for UpNorth?
Spidertag: I did 5 pieces in total; 4 interior and 1 outdoor. The challenge for me is that in summer in the north of Norway, there is no darkness, no night time. So, for my light installations it was a difficult…but I made it! And the wall will be turning on in a few month…

BSA: How would you describe the environment working in Røst?
Spidertag: Amazing location. The old and abandoned houses made of wood were perfect for my nails and also to contrast styles. Was a nice experience!

BSA: How are you challenging yourself as an artist right now
Spidertag: I continue to keep on developing; growing up and experimenting with my wires.

Poland’s NesPoon is bringing the decorative element of lace to this Norwegian island, an historical patterning that one may associate with hearth, home, and the finer practices of handicraft.

It is an unusual element in Street Art, though not limited to NesPoon (New York’s Hellbent comes to mind), bringing a sweetness to the urban landscape that befits a feminine character, rather than the hardcore testosterone infused hooliganism that the scene may like to portray about itself.

We met NesPoon in Moscow at the Artmossphere Biennale last year when she was doing an installation focusing on the so-called “Precariot”, the current worldwide worker class that is made to be insecure about their jobs, healthcare, shelter, food, future. So don’t think this stencil work is purely about decoration – more likely it is about asserting the feminine into public space and claiming the right to steer the dialogue and set the agenda.

Our thanks to our partner Urban Nation (UN) and to photographer Tor Ståle Moen for his talents.

See our Up North roundup piece on The Huffington Post

JAZ + Dzia at Up North Fest X BSA: Røst, Norway. UPN Dispatch 2

July 11, 2017 Artists, Interview

This is the third year for Northern Norway’s UPN Festival and this year it’s on an Island called Røst and includes a collection of artists eager to do site-specific and environmental works – one evolutionary development in the mural festivals that blossom throughout the world right now. BSA is proud to bring you images and interviews along with Urban Nation this year at UpNorth, where the seagulls never stop calling and the sun never goes down this time of year.

“We try to show a big spectrum of styles and have as much variation as possible,” says Gøran Moya.

Moya runs the UpNorth art festival with about 5 other people, he says. “Without these people this would not be possible.” This year Urban Nation from Berlin, including director Yasha Young, joined with the UpNorth team and co-curated the selections of artists as well.

BSA: How did this Street Art festival begin?
Gøran Moya: It began with getting Phlegm to paint a big mural in Bodø in 2013. The positive response to this made me think that it could be possible to extend this into something bigger. We have some great locations up here. Something different. So in 2015 the first UpNorth Festival was arranged in Sulitjelma, the second in 2016 was in Bodø, and this year in Røst.

BSA: How did you chose these artists this year for the festival?
Gøran Moya: This year´s festival is curated together with Urban Nation Berlin. We are just trying to get artists that we think fit the surroundings, but not in an easy way; Something that brings a contrast.

More from Mr. Moya tomorrow but now lets look at the two interventions from artists JAZ and Dzia.

Franco Fasoli, or JAZ, has travelled to many cities over the last decade painting murals that often involve historical archtypes at war or readying for battle. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in the early 80s, he says his studies in ceramic art have also been taking form in his mind and he will be doing more sculpture.

We have actually seen two of his sculptures in person over the last year: the emerging lower half of a military horse coming up through the floor at the Artmossphere Biennale in Moscow last September and again earlier in Berlin for his anamorphic multi-limbed wresters in the PM/10 show at Urban Nation with Instagrafite last June.

For UPN here in Røst we find JAZ painting a new stately equine image as well, and you can see his affinity for the depth and volume of form even in his wall murals.

BSA: This is an unique place for a mural festival – both because it is away from a major urban center and because the days are 24 hours long this time of year. How would you describe painting on this island this time of year?
JAZ: The environment in Røst is great and it is like a surreal dream to paint there- such an amazing place to paint. The contact with the locals is kind of limited, but there was a lot of super good energy .

BSA: You have been doing murals for many festivals and towns for a while. How is your practice evolving today?
JAZ: Right now I’m concentrating more on sculpture than before and I am working with new kinds of materials, new languages, pushing me away from the profile of only a muralist. I am interested in new views of my work, getting involved with institutions and using my background as a public artist to generate bridges between different art perspectives. The role of the “street artist” or “contemporary artist” is something that I don’t want to be too concerned with – I’m trying to not get fixed in either of them .

Another world traveller, artist Dzia didn’t have to fly too far from his native Antwerp to bring his geometrically influenced feathered friends to this Norwegian wall. With a masters in fine art from the Royal Academy, Dzia only joined the mural game half a decade ago and his active animal kingdom has brought him opportunities to work with big brands thanks to a commercially appealing technique.

Here in Røst the wood façade of this one-story barn building is a natural analogue to the aviary scene he adds, even with such porous material soaking up the pigments of his paint. Nearer the chopping waves of the sea, his illustrative COD fish forms adds color to a plainly white waterfront building.

He says he loved all the time spent here and the other artists and his hosts. “6 nights on the amazing island Røst, 115km above the pole circle and 100km from the city Bodø, Norway, all 24h daylight and a magic midnight sun!”

Our thanks to our partner Urban Nation (UN) and to photographer Tor Ståle Moen for his talents.

See our Up North roundup piece on The Huffington Post

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“go on baby… burn a while”

Street artist Belin grew up far from the Vikings in his home of Linares in Andalusia, Spain.

Klone. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Klone. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Klone. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Klone. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

ELLE. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

ELLE. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

ELLE. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

ELLE. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

ELLE. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

ELLE. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Pastel. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Pastel. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Pastel. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Pastel. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Pastel. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Pastel sharing what inspired him to paint this wall. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Pastel. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Pastel. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Pastel. He thought he had completed his piece but then he had a change of heart and decided to switch the background color completely. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Pastel. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Pastel. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Pastel. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Lora Zombie begins. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Lora Zombie. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Lora Zombie. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Lora Zombie. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Lora Zombie. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Lora Zombie. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Lora Zombie. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Spidertag. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Spidertag. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Spidertag. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Spidertag. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Spidertag)

Spidertag. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Spidertag)

Spidertag. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Spidertag)

Spidertag. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Spidertag)

NesPoon. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

NesPoon. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

NesPoon. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

NesPoon. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

NesPoon. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

NesPoon. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

JAZ. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

JAZ. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

JAZ. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

JAZ. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

JAZ. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

JAZ. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

JAZ. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

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