Storhaug Part 2

Untitled (2019)

Berlin based 1UP Crew have been challenging preconceptions of what graffiti is, and what it can do, since the early 2000’s.

Well known for their aerosol interventions and large scale public installations and projects, 1UP maintain the visual vocabulary of graffiti writers, as seen here, with multiple repetitions of their name.

Story of a word (2018)

Said Dokins conducts intensive research for his pieces, approaching each one in a scholarly manner.

For his time in Stavanger with Nuart, Dokins conducted multiple interviews with both locals and immigrants to the area, in a quest to distil meaning into one impactful word which represented the shared experience of both parties.

Ultimately he isolated the term "Nærhet" – "closeness" or "proximity" in English – which references how our individual reality is shaped by our environment, and how this can be disrupted by displacement and migration.

Untitled (2019)

London based artist Edwin takes his wry and critical eye to the streets of Stavanger to raise awareness of pending sea levels due to climate change.

Look mum, I'm painting walls legally now (2012)

In perhaps a playful bite at the notion of having been invited to, then painting at a world-renowned street art festival, Mobstr (UK) responded with this subversive tongue-in-cheek piece for the 2012 edition of Nuart.

The work also references the rapidly shifting laws and societal norms on what defines art worth keeping in the public arena and what is deemed as vandalism and warranting removal.

TOY (2010)

This piece by English artist Dotmaster is loaded with a double meaning, but only if you have knowledge of the slang used by graffiti writers.

At first glance, the image is what it says on paper, a toy with a roller brush, writing its name. But for writers, a toy is a mocking term used to describe an unskilled graffiti writer who generates poor work.

This piece from 2010 was created at a time when some writers were starting to work in a more commercial world as Street Artists, and were in consequence regarded as ‘toys’ by some of their graffiti peers.

Untitled (2010)

Although macabre in subject matter, there is a gentle push for us to reconnect with nature embedded in ROA’s artwork.

Mostly using animals native to the walls he paints, the Belgian artist combines three stages of what a living body goes through in the biological cycle during life, death and after-life.

In 2019, Nuart partnered with Venice’s Arte Laguna Prize to offer an art residency during the festival. This was awarded to Lebanese interior architect and street artist, Jad El Khoury.

The site specific installation which Jad created in Stavanger was the continuation of a powerful previous project, Burj el Hawa (The Tower of Wind).

This first iteration in his series of structural interventions saw the artist breathe life into an abandoned building in downtown Beirut, using fabric and the wind itself to create movement in the otherwise desolate space.

Broken Promises (2014)

Fekner daubed the words “Broken Promises” in a derelict Brooklyn location in the 1980s in an effort to highlight the inadequate housing and poor services afflicting the neighbourhood. He used the same stencil in Stavanger in 2014, 32 years later, creating a parallel between the two locations.

I Had to Cage You, 'cause I Envied You to Much (2011)

Long time collaborators Hera and Akut have been creating public artwork together since 2004 under the alias Herakut. The contrast in their respective styles is dramatic, however each piece they create is united by the unquestionable skill of both artists.

Akut’s photorealist abilities are softened by Hera’s more illustrative and story-telling style.

This outdoor mural was one gleaming facet of the work that Herakut created for Nuart in 2011. This body of work included a large immersive installation with a common thematic reference point, also featuring caged monkeys and a disgruntled child with an ill-fitting crown. 

Google Internal Server Error (2016)

Usually known for his greyscale photo realistic portraiture, French artist MTO made waves by exploring the intersection between street art, public space and augmented reality in this full street takeover installation located in a Stavanger neighborhood.

Looking closely, you can see glitched and multiplying windows, an acid green hued chipped wooden lawn, oddly placed street signs and a white picket fence that looks as if it's been trapped on the loading page of an overheating computer, amongst other abnormalities.

The aim was to create a bug, or a hack, on Google’s location viewing platforms, Google Street View and Google Earth.

In this piece, Whatson joined forces with Thai artists Mua Bon and Alex Face.

In dividing their canvas, the Thai artists worked within the space where Whatson’s colourful details normally take hold, and filled it with their own stylised and recognisable work.

Matryoshka (2013)

English artist HUSH merges Western graffiti styles and tagging with a more refined Japanese aesthetic, creating a mashup of East-meets-West.

HUSH paid a particularly sensitive tribute to local graffiti artists with his piece in Stavanger.

Creating a set of nesting-dolls, HUSH used the negative space of his artwork to create a window which allowed for a dialogue between the graffiti that existed on the wall before he arrived to paint and his own work.

Untitled (2011)

Inspired by the natural world around him and maintaining a unique balance between heavily detailed work and minimalism, Italian artist Tellas has a penchant for simple repeating shapes.

With a muted palette and poetic aesthetic, Tellas was one of the earliest street artists to develop a more modernist visual in the scene, with his use of interlinking geometric shapes and quieter abstract illustrations.

After this piece for Nuart in 2011, Tellas manipulates gradients and organic pattern work masterfully, carving himself out a distinct place in the urban art scene. An early stab at this impending development can be seen here, with his persistent yet gentle, naturally tessellating school of fish.

La fonte des glaces / Melt Down

You can find French duo Ella & Pitr’s Giants, a series of illustrated comic-book stylised characters playfully snoozing their way around the globe, adorning rooftops, runways, homes, shipping containers and even fields.

In 2019 they claimed a world record for the largest outdoor mural with a piece in Paris, beating out their initial record breaking mural created in Stavanger in 2015 which saw two of their characters cradling each other across a series of rooftops.

Wake Me Up When it's Done (2015)

In 2015, Ella & Pitr created a three dimensional wrap around diptych on two homes situated 100 meters apart. A male and female giant are cramped and contorted to fit within the wall space allotted to their bodies by the scale of the houses they are painted on.

Upon closer inspection, site-specific symbolism is evident in the pattern work upon their clothing, rising storm clouds, and embellishments of Norwegian currency.

Untitled (2016)

Since 2011 Jaune’s mischievous characters can be found ganging up on the obstacles around them, and wrecking tiny chaos with their actions.

During the 2016 edition of Nuart Festival Jaune ensured that the people of Stavanger received a troupe of miniature workers of their own to find in the streets.

Anonymous Norwegian artist Dot Dot Dot created this piece for the 2015 edition of Nuart Festival.

This freehand piece visually links punk rock frontrunners of the early UK scene, the Sex Pistols, and Stavanger, by giving singer Johnny Rotten a traditionally Norwegian trapper hat.

Untitled (2009)

American artist and purveyor of social-realist stencil based work, Chris Stains has been creating artwork in public spaces since witnessing what NYC subway graffiti had to offer in the 1980s.

Having studied printmaking techniques in high school, Stains’ work retains a graphic feel, not unlike one you would normally associate with screen-printed posters.

His artwork often discusses the lives of those from underrepresented environments, both rural and urban, seeking to illustrate the triumph of the human spirit in spite of our physical or social conditions.

Untitled (2016)

Scottish-born, London-based poet, artist, and sculptor Robert Montgomery is well known for his large typographic installations and site-specific public space poetry, often emphasized by fire and light.

Regarded as a leading figure in the contemporary conceptual art world, Montgomery’s work is instantly recognisable. His melancholic words break larger issues into dreamscapes with an undercurrent of urgent socio-political issues.

For the 2016 edition of Nuart, Montgomery focused on supporting the Refugees Welcome campaign with his visual poetry gracing a variety of surfaces.  

Disobedience Needed Now (2017)

Working as a self-titled ‘craftivist’, Carrie Reichardt (UK) is an outspoken, politically charged and ceramic slinging artist.

Leaving a trail of poetry and prose in her wake, Reichardt employs the techniques of a muralist, but the tools of a mosaic artist, screen printing her own tiles to use rather than paint. Having been involved in community and public art projects for decades, her intricate work sings songs of solidarity and activism. 

Seen here is one of Reichardt’s stand out pieces for Nuart 2017, a quote from the American historian, playwright, philosopher and socialist thinker, Howard Zinn.

Monsters (2015)

Self-proclaimed pioneer of the ‘art-comedy’ genre, UK artist Bortusk Leer adorned Stavanger with an army of his neon monsters in 2015. These happy and childish figures epitomise Leer’s slogan, ‘Cheer up you Bastards'.

They can be found all over the city, serving their sole purpose in creation by bringing smiles to the faces of passersby.

Painted opposite to a children's play area, Bortusk’s menagerie of happy acid monsters have found the perfect home.