Oh the irony. Just before the year end, I showed you this piece of a tile showing up in Porto, which was completely destroyed and removed by the city council, apparently by being too offensive I suppose. Then, the artist moved on to part II, which was already intended for something else, but in this context suited better than before in this location. Brought to you thanks to the sharp eye in Porto of Miss K, the ”No tiles allowed” tile. Let’s see if they have reason to remove this one now.

No tiles allowed

A new piece by Alexandre Farto aka Vhils to end the year, which has been getting lot’s of feedback back on the facebook page. Vhils made this portrait of German chancellor Angela Merkel, leaving her with a third eye, a reference to the “eye of providence”  related to the latest Euro crisis, that’s been taking the news. One of his best pieces of the year, with the inclusion of several elements to the portrair rather than the usual etched face.

Vhils

Another piece from Vhils again in Miami, this one with some days already.

Vhils

Salão Coboi is a name I’ve been following for some time now, but still hadn’t had the chance to see their work live. They just had an exhibition which is still ongoing at Galeria Dama Aflita in collaboration with Round Square Collective. I just love their characters, and these sculptures really prove their terrific talent. Check the gallery and video inside.

“Generation H” by Salão Coboi

Straight from Round Square Collective website “Inspired by fall / winter 2011 collections of many designers and brands, ‘Generation H’ is the result of an insult swap between Round Square and Salão Coboi. A portrait of a generation that finds their own personality on intense research and immediate absorption of any trend found on different sub-cultures.”

Pics by Filipa Alves. You can find some more here.

If you have been following on the facebook page, this past weekend we went out to Covilhã to find the second event of WOOL fest coming to a start. Alexandro Farto aka Vhils arrived late Saturday night and immediately started working on his piece, laying out the lines for what would be a handfull of work next day. Trying to avoid the rain and the first signs of hard weather reaching Covilhã, his piece got laid out nicely on this huge wall of the city over the weekend. Pics and timelapse inside, thanks to Pedro Seixo Rodrigues.

Work in progress

WOOL – event II by Alexandre Farto aka Vhils

Timelapse

For more info and full coverage, check back with the constant updates via WOOL website and facebook page.
Btoy will be up next…

Portuguese Tiles FTW II

More about this project here: http://www.addfueltothefire.com/blog/category/portuguese-tiles/

Vhils has been producing a lot in the past days, with new pieces showing up faster than ever. This one is in Miami.

Vhils in Miami

Pics via Head8K

The WOOL festival has finished it’s first event, with the ARM collective spending some days in Covilhã painting night and day. Locals would stop by everyday to enjoy the developing of the main piece. They have taken in to account the surrounding church when painting their main piece, and that is visible by the illusion of tiles (Portuguese azulejo) used to blend in with the church’s near façade. Along the side walls, there’s also visible some small annotations, lost like a treasure map with small words of sayings and ways to pronounce words in Covilhã. All in all, probably the best ARM collective work I’ve seen so far and the best way to kick off a festival. All pics have been taken by Pedro Seixo Rodrigues, one of the mentors of the project. Enjoy…

Work in progress

WOOL – event I by ARM Collective

All pics by Pedro Seixo Rodrigues

NuArt festival has been putting up events yearly with huge quality artists, and this year is no exception. Dan Witz, David Choe, Herbert Baglione, Lucy McClauchlan, Dolk, Herakut, Tellas, Escif, Hyuro, Phlegm, DVS1 and of course Alexandre Farto aka Vhils, were part of this year lineup. Vhils has left two new pieces in Stavanger, Norway, with a darker side showing on these new works.

Vhils

All images via AM photographer Henrik Haven

Experimenta Design kicked off last week and it was great to see akaCorleone‘s work exhibited for the JOIO collective show. His piece starts with the line “What yesterday was high technology, today is a pyramid of garbage”. Check the gallery and info inside.

USE LESS

“USE LESS”

What yesterday was high technology, today is a pyramid of garbage. We live in a consumerist society that encourages us to accumulate objects, a contrast between the obsession of ruining ourselves with  the purchase of the most modern product and the complete disregard for items that quickly become obsolete, useless.
The intervention seeks to show this reality in which a distorted perspective quickly becomes clear, since everything is a matter of point of view.
The Court of Boa Hora,once a symbol of power in modern society, of justice, today is a building vacant, abandoned, forgotten for not fitting the parameters of this same society which makes this builing the most appropriate place to display an intervention with this theme.
// O que ontem era tecnologia de ponta, hoje é uma pirâmide de lixo. Vivemos numa sociedade consumista que nos incentiva a acumular objectos, um contraste entre a obsessão de nos arruinarmos na compra do produto mais moderno e o desprezo total por objectos que rapidamente se tornam obsoletos, inúteis.
A intervenção procura mostrar esta realidade em que uma perspectiva distorcida rapidamente se torna clara, sendo tudo uma questão de ponto de vista.
O espaço onde se insere a JOIO não podia ser mais oportuno, o Tribunal da Boa Hora, outrora um símbolo do poder da sociedade moderna, da justiça, hoje é um edifício devoluto, abandonado, esquecido por não se adequar aos parâmetros da mesma.