The dust is starting to settle after a busy few months helping to run this years Nuart Aberdeen productions and its been quite an experience!
Those who know me will understand how much time and energy I've put into Nuart since its arrival in 2017 along with a host of amazing people who often come together to help out. Of course with the ever changing restrictions this years festival took a slightly different approach with a small production team on the ground headed up by me.
This years artists came 1 at a time to avoid any potential problems and carried out regular testing to make sure no germs had travelled up with them. One of the joys organising events while the country is still in a semi lockdown with no idea what the next few months will hold. Thankfully after the success of Katie's double murals Henrik Aa. Uldalen and his partner made it to Aberdeen via train with no issues. We met for some food and drinks before embarking on a mini street art tour of the city, as good a way as any to see Aberdeen city center and also gave Henrik a chance to see some of his contemporaries from previous Nuarts. I'd almost forgotten just how many artworks the festival has helped produce so it was a nice reminder for me too.
Henrik arrived at his wall the next day dressed in his blue painters coat and white slip on's. I laughed thinking his white t shirt and shoes wouldn't stay that way for long. But Henrik began carefully assembling his tools, opening the tins of paint and quickly made a start sketching out the lower half of his mural. Over the course of 30 minutes a face began to emerge, first the outline and jaw line, then the nose and lips began to appear. It seemed liked every stroke of the roller created the perfect line exactly where it was meant to be. Having followed Henriks studio work I was interested to see how he'd tackle this larger canvas and scaling things up. Also with the dark tone and imagery of his paintings, what would Henrik be like as a person? Would I have a moody brooding artist to babysit for 6 days or would he be super serious and intense?
Along with the locals a few bloggers and photographers also began visiting the site each day, checking the progress and sometimes helping us to pack up at the end of the days painting. We'd aimed to keep things low key but it felt nice to have a little bit of buzz around Henrik painting in the city. He might be the first Nuart artists I've seen asked for an autograph by an admirer. We'd soon find out just how popular Henrik is but not before the local facebook warriors took to their keyboards to demand more rainbows and pretty pictures. Some even questioned the value of the festival and what it brings to Aberdeen, then Hollywood actor Channing Tatum shared a picture of the mural to his 18 million followers and I stuck two fingers up!
Of course its good to question how our city operates and how it spends its money but more often than not I see the same dull arguements about the value of art and see the people who think its pointless and any money should instead be funnelled into something else. The reality is that art isn't for everyone but through adding work to the streets it can be and through social media we can engage with people from all over the world along with Aberdonians. The direct feedback on the ground was overwhelmingly positive from local residents, church goers and the local drunks who stopped to chat each day. It took me a long time to realise it but if I don't like something then its probably not meant for me and that's ok, move on instead of throwing negativity into the void.
And Henrik seemed unphased by any outside factors and just focussed on the mural (and the Euros), from the initial sketch we watched on as crystalized details emerged from the ghostly face. To be fair I did fear that with KMG, Henrik and Snik all producing monochrome works we'd be in for some heavy criticism but as I often say when looking at the work of Milu Correch, art can be a mirror to us, our society and sometimes its pretty dark, especially the last 18 months and the various events unfolding on our screens from abroad and its not the job of an artist to make us feel better, instead we have to either opt into their vision and ideas or not. But seeing the crystal forms of Henriks mural gave me a sense of wonder, how did he create something so evocative using black & white paint and some cheap paint brushes from Nickel & Dime? Indeed the idea behind the piece looked at these emerging shapes, metamorphic granite becoming crystal, a nod to the cities granite industry and various buildings. The numerous architectural styles surrounding the site provided a reminder with the grand Gerard Street church looming over us while the brutalist high rise lurks behind connecting to the sharp edges contained within Spring Garden.
Watching Henrik paint gave me more time to pause and appreciate the surroundings and the history of the site on which we sat. And as much as I'm involved with Nuart behind the scenes I'm still a massive fanboy at heart and despite seeing how many of the artworks are created there's still something magical about seeing the artists at work and their process. As Henrik added the final brush strokes we all stood back and looked on in awe at what he'd produced. Some works have impact because of their scale, some for their technical ability but with Henrik it very much reminded me of watching Mary painting at the studio, the conjuring of something from nothing, the simple application of paint to a surface but creating something beautiful that's far more than the sum of its parts. As I said before its like the artists leave a little bit of their soul behind in these art works and it felt that way with Henrik.
With so much of my days filled up on computer screens its been nice to be present for the artists and to be able to spend time with people like Henrik and his partner. We ventured out of the city for a daytrip to Stonehaven taking in Dunnotar Castle and some fish & chips from the Bay. Ironically it seemed Stonehaven was the Covid capital that week and settled for a pint and some food at the harbour instead. And just like that Henrik was on his way back to London, eager to get back to his studio as he prepares for his next big solo show. I'm glad that he left such a wonderful artwork in Aberdeen but I'm proud that he left with some good memories of the granite city too.
You can see Henriks new mural on the student flats in the courtyard at Spring Garden but there's a handy google map which shows you where all the artworks are located. The free walking tours have also started up again so for a more informed experience be sure to book your tickets here!
