Is that a...mushroom?
*Bling!*
*Boing! Blick-up! Bling!*
Ok, before you back away from slowly, let's start at the beginning, shall we?
My parents were visiting me in Chichester this weekend, and we were strolling back home in the evening after a nice Thai dinner when...
Eh?
There were a couple of men scurrying away from the scene, packing their stuff into a van. Turns out that this particular work in the making is by a Brazilian street artist called Nunca.
The random mushrooms were made by a South Africian artist Christiaan Nagel. He was a surfer and one day came across some polyurethane material, and thus the colourful mushrooms were born - popping up around the world ever since.
But what are these global artists doing in the sleepy city of Chichester?
Well, a quick search on Twitterland and I quickly realised that this is part of the #ChichesterStreetArtFestival 2013, where a group of international street artists have been brought in to colour up some of the city's walls! There happened to be a tour of the murals yesterday so decided to go and find out more.
The tour was done by Richard from Street Art London, who explained how they work with street and graffiti artists to help bring their work out more, through festivals like this, talks, tours and exhibitions. It was interesting to hear that you only need permission from the building owner (ie not planning permission as well via the council) to do something like this (for unlisted buildings at least).
The murals have been created are going to be permanent (unless it angers a load of people to take them down, which I hope won't happen). Here are just a few of them...
Blue tits by ROA
ROA, as you can see, does alot of big animals. This wall was actually quite a small canvas for him apparently! He always chooses wildlife that matches the environment - hence the blue tits for the countryside of Chichester. (You wouldn't find any armadillos splashed across a wall here!).
Thierry Noir, who painted 18km of the Berlin Wall, muses over the crowned king at the end here
These bright dudes can be found around the perimeter of the Chichester Festival Theatre, which is currently undergoing work. When the theatre reopens, I believe the panels are all going to auctioned off.
Owls by Dscreet
Still in the making at the point this photo was taken. Dscreet shuffled away as we came up - alot of these artists are shy or don't like to talk to people about their work. I guess seeing a bunch of people gawking at their work is not really what they need when they're trying to get on with it!
These minimalist guys are my favourite! They're on a wall that is right in the centre of town, so probably the most visible one - this spot was given to Stik as his work was considered the 'safest' - no risk of offending anyone here. Stik confines himself to 6 lines with these guys. I love how they have so much expression!
I took photos of them all, but just posted my favourite ones here, otherwise this post will be super long! And this is really something you should go and see with your own eyes. Main sites are at Chichester College, Metro House, Pallant House Gallery...and another couple of spots you'll have to find!
Hopefully it will help to generate more interest to the city, and bring more visitors to Chichester :-)
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