Storhaug Part 3 – Post-Industrial

Better known as M-City, Mariusz Waras is a Polish artist who grew up in a city surrounded by an industrial landscape, brimming with factories, chimneys and cranes.

This influence is clear throughout his work, and there is a brutal yet refined nature to M-City’s art. His painting technique and use of stencils allows for him to produce work which has a visual similarity with heavily inked woodblock prints.

ALIVE (2016)

Spanish artist SpY’s work remains firmly rooted in graffiti, but has evolved over the years to sit alongside other contemporary conceptual artists. SpY is dedicated to exploring word-play and the graphic dominion of text in our everyday life.

Monument to a Disappearing Monument (2016)

Balaclava Girl (2010)

Having established himself early on as one of Norway’s leading stencil artists with a career spanning back to 2003, Dolk has made waves with his contrasting, abstract buff project, and his aim to paint 100 walls in 50 cities.

This piece from 2010 however, departs from this project. Painted by hand, yet retaining the simplistic quality of a stencil, it illustrates a woman painting on a balaclava, as if she were preparing for a revolution.

Interestingly, the visual foreshadows the rise of feminist Russian art activist band and political movement, Pussy Riot in 2011, shortly after this piece was painted.

Coining his signature style in 2007, VHILS (Alexandre Farto) uses dynamite and a chisel to create his paintless-portraits. In the decade prior, he was a prolific graffiti writer.

VHILS is a recurring artist in Stavanger during the Nuart Festival. This piece from 2013 peers out from in between buildings, inviting viewers to take a closer look at his distinctive chiseling method.

This piece from Nuart’s 2011 festival is unusual, as the artist mostly works with portraiture.

In this now obsolete work, we get a glimpse into a rare piece from VHILS that does not feature flesh, only bone.

The Action of Occupying Space (2016)

In 2019, Argentinian artist Tamara Djurovic, also known as Hyuro, produced two pieces of artwork in Stavanger with Paint The Change, an international project that creates local and global street art campaigns to highlight social justice issues and promote community outreach.

In a response to the unfolding refugee crisis across Europe, Hyuro painted this stirring piece of two extended arms, crossing over a centre border from opposing directions.

Like in much of her surrealist figurative work, there is a lack of identifying features, including faces, allowing the viewer to project themselves into her work.

This allows for a chain to form between her art and her audience - Hyuro’s work calls for out for empathy and immersion, giving us all space to imagine who else we could be.

Klosser (2016)

Located on the side of a kindergarten where he was simultaneously working on a documentary, Axel Void created this piece as a reflection on the meaning of play. Through the various stages of our lives, what does play mean to us?

From where we sit now, in the houses we have built for ourselves, regressing to the age of playing with blocks and creating houses, the work evokes layers of thinking.

First Day of School (2014)

As the Nuart Festival is always celebrated just as Stavanger’s school-aged children return for a new year of learning, Etam Cru created this piece for the city, entitled “Back to School.”

Untitled (2012)

Working in complete synchronicity and with an ability to finish each other’s linework, identical twin brothers How & Nosm left their mark on Stavanger in 2012.

Crafted in their signature palette of red, pink and greyscale, the piece is rich in intricate detail. Both artists are members of the infamous, Bronx based graffiti family, TATS CRU.

Shirt Mask x King of Hearts (2019)

Muralist and painter, Nuno Viegas’ artistic roots are entrenched in the late 90’s graffiti scene, from where the Portugese artist continues to draw inspiration. Upon moving to the Netherlands, Viegas’ work evolved, leading him to discover a new artistic identity.

His newer artwork represents a uniquely straddled space between the worlds of muralism and graffiti.

Approaching each mural and painting as a continuous tribute to the Graffiti Writers who keep the scene alive, he represents the culture through his visually captivating work, in a time where the definition of graffiti tends to get blurred and mixed with street art.

A symbiotic balance between his rougher graffiti roots and the pursuit of fulfilling his dream – to tag the moon – the works of Nuno Viegas continue to expand through walls and galleries across the globe.

Levitate (2015)

Norwegian artist Martin Whatson has a unique ability to straddle both the masculine and feminine in his work.

Largely composed of more uniform greyscale layered stencils, and embellished in a flourish of colourful details, ranging from graffiti tags to hearts and doves, Whatson references the visual duality and playfulness that animates street art.

Whatson often uses his platform to poke fun at society, sometimes leaning into deeply political territory while retaining a visually engaging form.

Hired Gun (2018)

British painter Helen Bur sits firmly in the camp of artists that can seamlessly coexist in both the traditional fine art world and the ever evolving landscape of Urban Art.

Burr adapts her painting techniques depending on her canvas, whether it be linen or concrete. Choosing to focus on the oversaturation of imagery and information in popular culture, Bur’s work relays the daily surreality we all face in relation to the media.

Through her dreamlike figurative situations and nods to magical realism, she points to these hyperreal visualisations as our norm.

Moss Forest (2018)

In a dark take on how our attempts to combat forest fires and climate change at large may be futile, Murmure use the naturally occurring surroundings of their chosen location for maximum message broadcasting.

The Tear Collector (2018)

Having collaborated on several editions of Nuart Festival over the years, Nimi & RH74 joined forces once more for this piece.

Wiches of Wiches (2018)

Best known for her large-scale figurative murals, Argentinian artist and provocater Milu Correch leads the way for South America’s fine-art leaning muralists.

Often using local histories as the contextual base for her pieces, Milu’s work draws from literature, film, and illustrations pertaining to regional events.

A Truth That is Beauty. A Beauty That is Truth (2017)

This mural celebrates the bravery of activists around the world, who are always more frequently harassed and intimidated for defending human rights. This large-scale mural on Stavanger’s Paradis train station celebrates Sakris Kupila, atransgender rights defender from Finland.

The project was realised in partnership with Amnesty International.

Slutt å Bore i Arktis (2019)

Often described as a visual activist, Dr. D (UK) tackles the notion that advertising, whether official or commercial, is a social pollutant.

With a 23 year long background in fly-posting, Dr. D has all the tools he needs in his arsenal to deal with the matter at hand; whether it be altering existing bus shelter advertisements, or changing road signs and official train information.

Often his interventions are so subtle that they catch viewers of his work off guard, with a disruptive and often comical impact.

Untitled (2008)

Israeli artist Know Hope’s body of work takes a multitude of forms, including murals, site-specific installations, mixed media, text and photography.

Reflecting on how the inflated cost of beer in Norway aligns with rising oil prices, Conzo & Glöbel took a close look how the sardine canning and label industry boomed in turn.

This led to many employees in the field turning their attention to more artistic endeavours, designing and producing the cans’ labels.