I'd originally started writing a piece about the artist line up for this years festival but before I knew it Nuart had come and gone with hardly a moment to spare. This year has felt like a blur with proprietary work for the festival starting late last year, measuring walls, scouting sites etc and we've been incredibly busy with Kekun Studio and the artist residencies (check em here) which ran from February to April. Oh and I did a massive MoC x 10 year show.
But Nuart Aberdeen is always a special time and I really enjoy getting stuck in with the production crew and the artists. For the third year in a row I became the artists host and was on hand to meet and greet them upon their arrival in Aberdeen and quickly got to work showing them around the various walls and production sites for this years festival. As with previous years we faced a number of challenges both in finding walls and with the sheer number of large mural productions.
Axel Voids original wall fell through at the last minute and plans were formulated for a sculpture before 2 new walls came through at the 11th hour providing two walls for Axel to tackle. We whisked him off for a tour of the city, in search of inspiration and a look at the grittier side of Aberdeen. Having passed a newly demolished housing estate on his way in, Axel wanted to go and check out the site over in Logie, an area of Aberdeen I have fond memories running around in when I was younger. We met a local who told us about the changes in the area and plans to repopulate the flats once the new bypass slip road is built. Axel also visited our studio where Mary handed him a set of local history books which he took back the Anatomy Rooms hub and began poring over. He quickly set up a desk and began a couple of mini paintings and started to pull together ideas for the two massive walls at Woolmanhill.
Straight off the bat Smug set to work prepping his giant wall on the Green and starting to sketch out his latest massive portrait. The Smug production was quite something to watch unfold, each day bringing a little more to the picture til it was finally finished over the festival weekend. Sam spoke about his roots in graffiti but his urge to push spray paint and his skills as far as they can go. The results from the last few years have been nothing less than incredible and I found myself standing under his Nuart Aberdeen wall completely in awe at those skills in action.
Hush and Dotmasters kicked off their walls on the same night, just in time for a light downpour, a perfect welcome to Aberdeen for them both. Hush didn't hesitate and once everything was in place quickly began sketching out the first of his two panels. Meanwhile I'd managed to tip out Dotmasters paint bag, much to his displeasure. However once he'd made a start on his Jopps Lane piece any disgruntlement quickly abided and he quickly started to work up his repeat pattern wall paper design, all stencilled and hand aligned. Both artists called it quits after a few hours but the ground work was done for what would become two incredible pieces.
Anders Gjennstad aka Strok is an imposing figure both in his size and the effect of his work. His characters, with their elongated shadows and freeze frame break dance poses have an arresting quality which can stop you in your tracks. And that suit's Anders just fine, an artist who prefers to let his work do the talking, he quickly got to task and began working on his stunning piece on Rosemount Viaduct with assistance from Chris aka Jetpack Dinosaur. Using multi layer stencils, Anders slowly builds up the layers on each character and adds the distinctive drop shadow which often warps the finished perspective. It was only when he showed me his smaller scale stencils that I recognised the movements of the characters as those of the break dancing B - Boy. I recently picked up a copy of Anders book 'Canvas' which covers his development and reveals his love of decaying walls and layers, something he found plenty of on his journey in Aberdeen!
Where Anders left you feeling awestruck, interventionist artist Jan Vormann has left many dumbstruck. As the collective knowledge and understanding of street art in Aberdeen grows so do the opportunities to push the boundaries. Where some add paint to walls, Jan fixes them using the iconic and brightly colour Lego brick. Under the banner of 'Dispatchwork' the project can be seen as an invitation to take control of the streets and to have agency in fixing the fabric of our cities and maybe even the wider societal problems. Although Jan needed some fixing before his arrival as he managed to break his hand only a few days before heading to Aberdeen! Luckily festival helper and local street artist Abz Jawa was on hand to help. Jan's main wall is located on The Green but he spotted a few other interesting sites which also benefited from a Lego repair. I love the nature of Jans work and also the wider context of interpretations that come with it, fixing the city, taking control, being present and having a sense of purpose and control. Although for such a loaded project Jan was incredibly cool and fun to chat with, especially when younger viewers walked past and wanted to know what he was up too!
Continuing the idea of fixing the streets, we welcomed French tile artist Ememem to the Granite City. Ememem took part in last years Nuart Festival in Stavanger and the results were quite a hit both with the locals and across the street art blogs. Upon meeting Ememem he requested a quick tour around the city in the hopes of discovering some interesting sites in need of repair. We visited St Nicholas Kirk Yard, a site where many like to admire the gothic headstones but Ememem took pleasure in the stump of a once mighty tree. He quickly took some dimensions before we continued our quest for broken slabs and pot holes. Much like Jans Dispatchwork, Ememem creates his tiles to perfectly fit their desired space, creating a really slick and uniform finished piece. We faced one problem though, a bag containing the majority of his specially made tiles had gone amiss at Manchester airport! Thankfully his assistant, local glass maker and Nuart helper Shelagh Swanson was able to step in, firing off some new tiles at her harbour side studio with Ememems distinctive signature design.
I was excited to meet Evol and his partner Lera and to find out more about the mini high rise project, a firm favourite from my previous visits to Stavanger. Using infrastructure that exists in almost every major city, Evol transforms the mundane gray electrical and service boxes that litter our streets and turns them into recognisable high rise flats, complete with satellite dishes and balconies. A tour of Aberdeen's high rises left their mark and he set to work on a new set of stencils with a view to creating a site specific high rise for Aberdeen. Although trying to find suitable acetates for cutting the stencils proved problematic, thankfully my friend Neil was on hand to help. Utilising the laser cutter at Peacocks, Evol was able to get his new stencils cut just in time! Together, Evol and Lera hit the streets and meticulously crafted a whole new miniature world across the city although the police did take an interest after reports of a couple vandalising an electrical box.
From stencils to more traditional painters with Helen Bur and emerging artist Julio Anaya Cabading bringing a fine art touch to this years festival. Helen tackled two large walls on a building made out of polystyrene (that's right) creating two beautiful portraits of a man and a woman who's stories are intertwined whilst Julio got off to a flying start in the tunnels with a stunning recreation of a famous self portrait of master painter Rembrandt. Both artists created works that could sit just as well in any gallery and really highlight the traditional painting skills which are alive and well in the street art world. Although its their ability, both Helen completing two large scale portraits in 7 days and Julio recreating masterpieces on rough hewn granite that elevates both artists to another level.
With so many big names already its surreal to add Vhils and Ben Eine to the mix. It seems like VHILS has been on a meteoric rise to fame both in the streets and the galleries bringing his work to some of the biggest galleries and museums going. Producing work on such a scale requires a strong team and the VHILS crew got straight to work on their piece on the old Cosalt building, located next to Union Square. As bits of render chipped away stunning portraits slowly revealed themselves but who were these olde world looking figures? That's for another time but the team really loved seeing the architecture and granite of Aberdeen, especially with the blue skies and warm days they brought from Portugal.
Where VHILS uses images of people to tell stories, Ben uses a more direct method by letting words do the talking. From his iconic London alphabet shutters to his distinctive circus font letters, Ben Eine has been a staple of the street art scene since its very beginnings. In the right setting words can have the power to move us in both a positive and a negative way and Ben seems to find the perfect balance when placing his words on the streets. I met him along with his long time assistant Andy Vazy at the hotel and the first thing he said is "I have a really good feeling about Aberdeen, I think this is going to be my best trip this year". The next few days certainly proved to be eventful with Ben getting a new neck tattoo and at least a day which can't be accounted. Maybe he was off meeting some shiny happy people!
The final artist on this years line up proved to be one of my favourites, the incredible Hama Woods! With giant stencils and two walls to paint, Hama got straight to work with her assistant Katie Guthrie and blasted up her leopard design working well into the night to get the piece finished. It was quite something to see the stencils unfurled on the wall, measuring the same size as the car parking spaces below and with some 16 odd layers to spray. A delay in spray paint almost threw things off as well but she managed to finish up with time to spare, completing not 1 but 2 pieces with an additional art work added to the front of the Science Centre on George Street before the first walking tours hit the streets in search of the new art works.
As always behind every great festival is an amazing group of unsung heroes both from Nuart and Aberdeen Inspired to the numerous volunteers and helpers who help make the festival happen. 2019 hasn't been without its challenges but the artists all had a great time exploring the city and leaving their mark on our walls and the general public reaction has been phenomenal with many asking how the festival manages to get better each year. For me personally its been an incredible journey to be part of and the friends I've met along the way have been truly special from artists to photographers, street art bloggers and of course the amazing people of Aberdeen who come on the tours.
With 2020 fast approaching many are asking how we can top 2019 but that's not really a concern as bigger doesn't mean better but working with incredible artists and engaging with the city, its history and the people will always bring a good result. Till then we've got plenty of time to look back on the this years and previous years festivals and to also take a look at the local street art scene which has been blossoming since 2016 and appears to be getting better each year with artists like Abz Jawa, Slave, KMG Yeah and V2K pushing their own work as well as being integral parts of the Nuart team.
More on that real soon but in the mean time make sure you join us for one of the free street art walking tours which take place every Thursday at 6pm and Saturday & Sunday from 1pm.
But Nuart Aberdeen is always a special time and I really enjoy getting stuck in with the production crew and the artists. For the third year in a row I became the artists host and was on hand to meet and greet them upon their arrival in Aberdeen and quickly got to work showing them around the various walls and production sites for this years festival. As with previous years we faced a number of challenges both in finding walls and with the sheer number of large mural productions.
Axel Voids original wall fell through at the last minute and plans were formulated for a sculpture before 2 new walls came through at the 11th hour providing two walls for Axel to tackle. We whisked him off for a tour of the city, in search of inspiration and a look at the grittier side of Aberdeen. Having passed a newly demolished housing estate on his way in, Axel wanted to go and check out the site over in Logie, an area of Aberdeen I have fond memories running around in when I was younger. We met a local who told us about the changes in the area and plans to repopulate the flats once the new bypass slip road is built. Axel also visited our studio where Mary handed him a set of local history books which he took back the Anatomy Rooms hub and began poring over. He quickly set up a desk and began a couple of mini paintings and started to pull together ideas for the two massive walls at Woolmanhill.
Where VHILS uses images of people to tell stories, Ben uses a more direct method by letting words do the talking. From his iconic London alphabet shutters to his distinctive circus font letters, Ben Eine has been a staple of the street art scene since its very beginnings. In the right setting words can have the power to move us in both a positive and a negative way and Ben seems to find the perfect balance when placing his words on the streets. I met him along with his long time assistant Andy Vazy at the hotel and the first thing he said is "I have a really good feeling about Aberdeen, I think this is going to be my best trip this year". The next few days certainly proved to be eventful with Ben getting a new neck tattoo and at least a day which can't be accounted. Maybe he was off meeting some shiny happy people!
With 2020 fast approaching many are asking how we can top 2019 but that's not really a concern as bigger doesn't mean better but working with incredible artists and engaging with the city, its history and the people will always bring a good result. Till then we've got plenty of time to look back on the this years and previous years festivals and to also take a look at the local street art scene which has been blossoming since 2016 and appears to be getting better each year with artists like Abz Jawa, Slave, KMG Yeah and V2K pushing their own work as well as being integral parts of the Nuart team.
More on that real soon but in the mean time make sure you join us for one of the free street art walking tours which take place every Thursday at 6pm and Saturday & Sunday from 1pm.
