Edmonton street art collection #1: Rust Magic International Street Festival - Part 1 - 2018's @okudart's epic mural
Hey Steemies!!
With the wild wild west of a summer and all the festivals I wanted to attend drowned out and washed away in the rain and my sorrows lol , 2 more that really peek my interest and one is currently ongoing and about halfway thru. This is a newer festival being in it's 4th year gaining traction in our city that grows with every show. Although I didn't post them yet, maybe I was waiting for the right moment and this is it, @silvergingerman and I like to take the back and side streets of popular areas or landmarks and the city's downtown for wall art and graffiti. With him having the weekend off, I figured it would be an interesting outing to get out and see the murals in the making during the 2019 Rust Magic International Street Mural Festival. The walls are full of colorful stories and history in Edmonton...and they say we are a bunch of rednecks and have no culture....Pfff...Whatever Canada eH! (Except Saskatchewan, your cool in our good books as our ugly twin) 😆😛 Alright enough being a smart ass inter-provincial banter now back to business.
Shot 1/250 sec. f/8 46 mm, ISO 100
The highlight of last year's festival was this epic mural by famous Spanish muralist Okuda San Miguel aka @okudart.
https://www.instagram.com/okudart/?hl=en
https://www.facebook.com/OKUDART-202312969832570/
http://www.streetartbio.com/about-okuda-biography
This talented artist never ceases to amaze the world with masterpieces of colorful geometric art and murals. The conversation starter was partially paid for by a crowdfunded campaign of $40 000 to cover part of the $84 000 price tag with the owner of the building to bring this artist to color our city with a magic rainbow touch with the biggest mural this city has ever seen. At 1400 sq feet and 6 story high, this colorful beauty stands proud in our downtown's Whyte Ave in Old Strathcona and certainly makes a statement near the northwest corner of Whyte Avenue and Gateway Boulevard. The mural sits behind the building in the back alley. A great place to admire and get a view or take pictures is near the popular local Strathcona farmer's market or Fringe theater. If you are ever in the Edmonton area, it's definitely worth seeing this eye candy for yourself, it's a masterpiece and a visual wonder that will brighten anyone's day.
When asked about the mural’s inspiration, Maxxis said, “It’s full of color. It touches a little on oil, our wild dogs and wild cats, and it’s a symbol of unity and coming together. It represents Alberta in a colorful and abstract way.”
Source:https://roundhouse.net/stories/okudart-art-all/
Here is a closer look. It's such a huge work or art, hard to fit in one picture and grasp the impact it has seeing it in real life. I didn't put my photo tag on it because I don't want to soil Okuda's creation so please be respectful of my image and do not plagiarize or use without permission the only exemption to this is legitimate steemit curation teams.
Shot 1/500 sec. f/5.6 65 mm, ISO 200
Every few years the wall art becomes weathered by the elements and gets painted over with a new legacy, I wanted to make it my mission as a photographer to try to keep track of the various wall art before they disappear into a faint memory. It will make for an interesting future collection of our city's culture and history to look back on. This year, the festival will be featuring 20 international and local muralists to splash our city with more visual candy and instagramable walls for the perfect selfie at various locations across Edmonton. My goal is to start releasing some of my street art photography and to start following this festival and the artists more closely and showcase those whom I can find information about the artist.
If you are near Edmonton and have the opportunity to check it out, here are some details about the festival, if you are far away but interested, you can always add it to the bucket list for another year.
https://exploreedmonton.com/articles/guide-to-rust-magic-2019
https://www.facebook.com/rustmagic/
I wanted to start a project and see if I can catch some of the murals in the making and return when they are completed and make a mural in progress type post, we'll see what I can accomplish, the festival is halfway thru so it might be a stretch but at the very least I can bring you some completed pieces. I didn't decide who I will follow during the festival but I'm definitely interested in following the Kingsway project by local artist Jill Stanton that will be ongoing for part of the year inside the shopping mall...YAY indoor project, no rain!
Taken by @silvergingerman with iphone 8.
Images taken with Nikon D7000 and Sigma 18-200 mm lens unless otherwise stated.
Cheers my friends! X🐞X
I really like this art. Good luck with your project!!!
Thanks! It will be a fun one. :)
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hello, my friend @ladybug126! Did Maxxis say what the two figures of women with heads hidden meant? is there a symbolism to those two monochromatic figures? I wonder what his message is with this mural. I enjoyed reading your article, @ladybug146! Thanks.
It's one of Okuda's trademark in a lot of his paintings. According to his wiki page:
"The work of Okuda San Miguel is predominantly characterized by geometric structures and multicolored prints. These are sometimes associated with gray bodies, and often include headless figures, religious references, symbols, animals and giant heads. Art critics catalog his style as pop surrealism with a clear street influence of urban art, though his style has not been exempt from controversy. His works focus on contradictions in existentialism, the meaning of life and the false freedom of capitalism, particularly on the conflict between modernity and our human roots."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okuda_San_Miguel
Okuda San Miguel
Okuda San Miguel, Óscar San Miguel Erice (Santander, born 19 November 1980) is a Spanish painter and sculptor known for his distinctive style of colorful geometric patterns that portray animals, skulls, religious iconography and human figures. He is perhaps most famous for painting the Kaos Temple in Llanera, Asturias, Spain. His murals can be seen on buildings and objects across the world in India, Mali, the United States, Japan, Chile, Brazil, Peru, South Africa, Mexico, Canada, Morocco, Ukraine and Spain.
Thanks, @ladybug146! I appreciate you.
Yay an epic post from you! This mural is gorgeous and what a great idea to document them over the years as they get painted over. I see you as the author of a photography coffee table book after years of investment in this project. Happy summer! 🤗
Thanks!! I guess that would make for a cool art book to have a compilation of epic murals of edmonton over the years of the festival, it's still young and they get some pretty famous dudes. The city is filled with art murals all over the place both indoor and outdoor it makes for cheap entertainment hunting them down. Some of these are so nice, I want to print the second photo and hang it somewhere in the house...maybe it can hang out with my with my concert lithographs.
Hiya, @itchyfeetdonica here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made into our Honorable Mentions in Daily Travel Digest #591.
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wow amazing work !
Thank you!
WOW I love that piece it is awesome so colorful and fun
that would be such a cool project to capture the various stages of a mural in progress and then do a post when it is completed
Thanks! I'm going to follow the indoor ones if I can, the outdoor ones are all fenced off until they are completed but it's going to be a fun hunt to find them.
Cool I look forward to seeing more of them
Very cool. Street art is great. So glad to see it highlighted!
Thank you! Yes it deserves more attention, there are some very talented muralists!
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