Spaik got an early start on his mural for Street Skills in Colombia. The mural is part of the third edition of Street Skills, a festival aimed to gather street artists and graffiti writers to showcase their works in various cities throughout Colombia.
Street Skills will be taking place in 3 different Colombian cities throughout the month of November. Invited artists include Does (Brazil), Lelin (Brazil), Lola (Brazil), El Pez (Spain), Cix (Mexico), Olfer (Peru).
Spaik has been working on big and small scale, legal and illegal murals throughout the past few months. His experimentation with themes of cultural relevance such as: intimacy, nature, education, social mobility continue to be apparent in his two latest works.
Spaik’s recently worked on a mural in the Cultural House in Colon, Mexico, titled, ‘Somnolencia Infinita’ (‘Infinite Somnolence’)
The title does not offer a strict description of what is displayed in the mural, maybe the intention is to highlight the many potentials a cultural center can offer to its community: the characters are lively, folkoric and enthusiastic.
Spaik is recognized by the use of rich, cool colors and local aesthetics, while still reaching the appeal of a wide audience, as well as his creativity in the manipulation of surfaces and structures.
Last week, the first Biennial of Public Art and Muralism took place in Cali, Colombia; inviting 33 artists, 17 international artists. This is a pretty big deal given that Cali is a medium scale city that has struggled with drug cartels and violence. In recent years, the city has made efforts to develop more positive outlets for communities through various non profit and government ran projects. Considering Cali’s context, bringing together international artists to create murals and workshops proves that the development of community awareness to nurture cities, towns and neighborhoods is spreading via public art throughout various geopolitical boundaries. Festivals like this are inspired by street art movements in Europe and the U.S, and although some headliners in Cali’s Biennial of Public Art and Muralism are from those countries, most artists and speakers are Latin American and I can only predict that more festivals (organized and headlined by Latinos) are going to take force in Central and South America in order to give agency and more local cultural context to those artists and their communities.
Here are some works by Spaik (Mexico) in the Stadium Pascual Guerrero, Cali.
Photo courtesy of SpaikSpaik. Photo courtesy of Spaik.
And here are some works by Painters (Chile) in the Stadium Pascual Guerrero, Cali.
Painters. Click to view large. Photo courtesy of Painters.Painters. Photo courtesy of Painters.Painters. Photo courtesy of Painters.
