Acidum Project (Brazil)
Website: www.facebook.com/acidumproject
Dates in town: June 2016
Wall location: 62 W Broadway (on the alley by Cowfish), (44.049731, -123.093518)
Mural description
About: Acidum Project (Brazil) was founded in 2006 as an art collective in Fortaleza, Brazil. Currently featuring the vibrant work of Robézio Marqs and Tereza Dequinta, Acidum promotes experimentalism through a matrix of urban art like murals, graffiti, design, stencils, photography, stickers, tattoos, audio visual projects and exhibitions. Marqs and Dequinta use mixed techniques to transform their dreams into artwork filled with vivid color, brilliant patterns and obscure characters. They subvert the notions of space, creating art in areas that may be considered unusable or sterile, creating micro-universes for the viewer to explore.
Links: Here’s a look at Acidum Project’s Instagram page.
AIKO (Japan/USA)
Website: www.ladyaiko.com
Dates in town: July/August 2018
Wall location: Parcade Parking Garage (7th & Willamette, facing Willamette Street) (44.051833, -123.092861)
Mural description
About: AIKO was born and raised in Tokyo before moving to New York City in the mid-1990s. She works in the studio as well as public spaces. She is acclaimed in the contemporary art world and well-respected within the international graffiti and street art scene. Her large scale works indoors and outdoors are installed in many cities, including Miami and New York City.
Links: Here’s a look at Aiko’s Instagram page.
Blek Le Rat (France)
Website: bleklerat.free.fr
Dates in town: July/August 2017
Wall location: South wall of IDX Broker, 100 E Broadway (44.049611, -123.090935)
Mural description
About: Known as one of the Godfathers of Stencil Art, French artist Blek le Rat’s work served as one of the inspirations for artists like Banksy and Space Invader. Born Xavier Prou, Blek adopted his pseudonym “Blek le Rat” from an Italian comic called “Blek le Roc.” Blek began stenciling images of rats around the streets of Paris. Blek’s work is often centered on creating images that make the viewer stop and think. Although the art scene in Paris hasn’t always accepted the validity of his work, the global urban art scene has.
Links: Here’s a look at what he’s been up to lately.
Martha Cooper (USA)
Website: www.stevenkasher.com/artists/martha-cooper
Dates in town: July/August 2018
Wall location: 1331 Willamette St. (Rising Moon Makers storefront)
Mural description
About: Cooper is a documentary photographer who has specialized in shooting graffiti and street art for more than thirty five years. Her books include “Subway Art, a collaboration with Henry Chalfant,” “R.I.P.: Memorial Wall Art, Hip Hop Files 1980-1984,” “We B*Girlz, Street Play,” “New York State of Mind,” “Tag Town,” “Going Postal” and “Tokyo Tattoo 1970.” She lives in Manhattan but can frequently be found at street art festivals worldwide.
Links: Here’s a look at Cooper’s Instagram page.
Alexis Diaz (Puerto Rico)
Website: cargocollective.com/alexisdiaz
Dates in town: July/August 2018
Wall location: 1061 W 2nd Ave. (Grizzlies Brand south wall) (44.057861, -123.109028)
Mural description
About: Diaz is a painter and urban muralist known for his chimerical and dreamlike depictions of animals in a state of metamorphosis. Inhabited mostly by phantasmagorical animals, Diaz’s captivating murals are characterized by a detailed technique and line-by-line precision. Diaz’s signature style is the use of tiny black brushstrokes on white to render his creatures, making them look like highly-detailed pen-and-ink drawings.
Links: Here’s a look at Diaz’s Instagram page.
Franco Fasoli, Aka JAZ (Argentina)
Website: tmoua.org/jaz-biography
Dates in town: July/August 2017
Wall locations:
South wall of McDonald Theater, 1010 Willamette St. (44.048658, -123.092892)
North wall of Arcimoto, 544 Blair Blvd (44.053929, -123.107976)
Mural descriptions
About: The Argentinian artist, known as JAZ, originally trained in scenography (the design and painting of theatrical scenery) and became one of the leaders of graffiti writing in Buenos Aires during the mid-1990s. JAZ is best known for his large scale murals and often portrays elements of the social and cultural environment of Latin American in his work.
Links: Here’s a look at what he’s been up to lately.
Bayne Gardner (USA)
Website: www.baynegardner.com
Dates in town: July/August 2018
Wall location: Corner of 13th & Willamette (Wall on Willamette St. side) (44.045389, -123.092528)
Mural description
About: Bayne Gardner is a self-taught visual artist living and working in the Eugene-Springfield area. Lately he has focused on painting public and private murals. Though he usually works solo, he has also directed numerous collaborative projects involving children in the painting process. Inspired by motion in nature, Gardner brings a lively and spontaneous energy to everything he paints.
Links: Here’s a look at Gardner’s Instagram page.
Shamsia Hassani (Afghanistan)
Dates in town: July/August 2018
Wall location: 2451 Willamette St. (South wall) (44.032167, -123.090444)
Mural description
About: Hassani, is a lecturer at Kabul University, the largest college in Afghanistan. She’s the country’s first female graffiti artist, and through her artwork she portrays Afghan women in a male dominant society. The woman character used in her artwork shows a person who is proud, loud and can bring positive changes to people’s lives.
Links: Here’s a look at Hassani’s Instagram page.
Hush (United Kingdom)
Website: studio-hush.com
Dates in town: July/August 2017
Wall location: East wall, Falling Sky Brewing House & Gastropub, 1334 Oak Alley (44.045268, -123.092045)
Mural description
About: Currently residing in London, Hush’s style draws upon elements of Japanese influence, including anime and geishas. His approach combines traditional artistic techniques and street art style, creating a dynamic blend of graphic elements and abstract pop.
Links: Here’s a look at what he’s been up to lately.
Hyuro (Spain/Argentina)
Website: www.hyuro.es
Dates in town: July/August 2017
Wall location: North wall of The Kiva, 125 W 11th Ave (44.047843, -123.094749)
Mural description
About: Born in Argentina and now residing in Valencia, Spain, Hyuro is best known for surrealist and sometimes whimsical approach to her subjects. Her work embodies a sense of eerie playfulness by blending thematic issues of politics, nature and feminine identity.
Links: Here’s a look at what she’s been up to lately.
Kari Johnson (USA)
Dates in town: 2019
Wall location: FOOD for Lane County’s Dining Room, 270 W 8th Ave. (44.050833, -123.096778)
Mural description
About: Eugene artist Kari Johnson has been painting murals for 25 years. Three of the most well-known of her 20 murals are at 4th and Monroe, in the Whirled Pies building and across from Ninkasi. Johnson began teaching herself to paint when she was 14, following in the footsteps of her grandmothers who painted landscapes and still lifes. She is an artist of many mediums: clay, stained glass, fabric, building design and general contracting, shadow puppets, and – most recently – metal.
Johnson cares about promoting social justice and creating harmony between humans and plant and animal relations. She seeks to invite individuals to join the community, belong to the place and shape our human story.
Steven Lopez (USA)
Website: www.ikeepmoving.com
Dates in town: October 2016
Wall location: Wildcraft Cider Press House, 254 Lincoln St. (44.057074, -123.097944)
Mural description
About: Lopez is a painter influence by hip-hop culture and graffiti art. Although he emerged from the graffiti subculture, the academic influence gained through earning his Bachelor of Arts of fine art from the University of Oregon resonates through his work. Lopez studied under the guidance of master sculptor Dora Natella and design theorist Leon Johnson. Lopez seeks to discover the possibilities of utilizing wildlife as a stage for human interpretation. Using a variety of dynamic colors, Lopez explores his own calm protective nature as well as his volatile relationships with his subjects, producing pieces that are powerfully vibrant and, at the same time, complimentary. The result is a series of works that articulate the essence of the creative process. Lopez currently works and lives in Los Angeles.
Links: Here’s a look at what he’s been up to lately.
Fintan Magee (Australia)
Website: fintanmagee.com
Dates in town: 2019
Wall location: Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, 1401 Willamette St. (44.044056, -123.092444)
Mural description
About: Fintan Magee is an Australian street artist known for his murals throughout Australia and the world. Born in Lismore (Australia), he grew up in Brisbane as a child and began drawing shortly after. Exposed to Brisbane’s graffiti culture in his teens, Magee began to scrawl his name across the city in large vibrant letter forms. He gained a reputation as a graffiti writer before obtaining a fine arts degree and relocating to Sydney. Moving away from traditional graffiti in recent years, his large-scale murals often inhabit the isolated, abandoned and broken corners of the city. Mixing surreal and figurative imagery, his paintings are deeply integrated with the urban environment; they explore themes of waste, consumption, loss and transition and contain a sentimentality and softness influenced by children’s books.
Links: Here’s a look at what he’s been up to lately.
Kiran Maharjan “H11235” (Nepal)
Website: www.facebook.com/H11235
Dates in town: July/August 2018
Wall location: 755 Charnelton St. (NW Martial Arts, north wall) (44.051611, -123.095500)
Mural description
About: Kiran Maharjan (H11235) is a street artist and muralist whose works revolve around the dual nature of mankind and of the artist. Maharjan completed his BFA degree from Kathmandu University Centre for Art and Design in 2014. His work can be seen in the different streets of Nepal and countries like Denmark, Finland, Cambodia and India.
Links: Here’s a look at H11235’s Instagram page.
Adele Renault (USA)
Website: www.adelerenault.com
Dates in town: 2019
Wall location: Coffee Plant Roaster, 2836 W 11th Ave. (44.047556, -123.134389)
Mural description
About: Adele Renault is an artist with a deft touch for that which most might find commonplace. From pigeons to people, she focuses her artistry on realistic depictions of ordinary city residents, on canvas as well as massive murals. Her interest in people and pigeons stems from the commonality that no matter the city, each can be found in abundance. With meticulous care and attention to detail, she renders an old woman’s face and a pigeon’s with the same precision. The ever-changing colors of the pigeon’s feathers are just as significant as the wrinkles in an old woman’s face. Renault was raised on a farm in the Belgian Ardennes where her musical family encouraged her to travel and experience the world on her own. She graduated in 2010 from the Academie Royale des Beaux Arts in Brussels, lived and worked in Amsterdam until 2017 and is now based in Los Angeles.
Links: Here’s a look at what she’s been up to lately.
Ila Rose (USA)
Website: www.ilaroseart.com
Dates in town: July/August 2017
Wall location: North and east walls of sawdust silo in parking lot at 348 W 3rd Ave (44.056341, -123.097795)
Mural description
About: Ila Rose is a painter, hailing from Eugene Oregon. Rose’s first public mural can be seen in the Whiteaker at Fifth Avenue Alley and Blair Boulevard. She is inspired and humbled by those who have formed close relationships with the earth. Instances of this human-environment interconnection are rich with shared symbolism. Symbols that echo throughout time and space have instinctively landed themselves in her art.
Links: Here’s a look at what she’s been up to lately.
Sidney Waerts aka SIT (Netherlands)
Website: sidneywaerts.com
Dates in town: 2019
Wall location: Well Balanced, 1274 W 7th St. (44.051917, -123.112167)
Mural description
About: The work of Dutch artist SIT is inevitably characterized by a feeling of discomfort: his paintings and sculptures show the moment when beauty loses its raison d’être, and presents its darkest side. Behind his figurative images lies a disturbing analysis of our times. SIT demonstrates artificial characters, human beings and animals that remind us of the banality of everyday life, of our obsession with appearance, look and materialism. These characters are the victims of our visual and fast society, the technology of the visible – where human vanity stands in the way of a truly ethical life. By using black and white, SIT creates sober and melancholic images, as if man – while endlessly believing in progression – has lost something on the way. But on the other hand he displays a maximum of effects: the rough textures and fast strokes look dramatic and seductive, the settings are theatrical and grotesque. This ambiguity – between the temptation of beauty and our constant urge to abuse her – is the driving force behind SIT’s work.
Links: Here’s a look at at what he’s been up to lately.
Matt Small (United Kingdom)
Website: www.matthew-small.com
Dates in town: June 2018
Wall location: 749 Willamette St. (in the alley by between Willamette and W. Park St.)
(44.051587, -123.092456)
Mural description
About: Matthew Small is a British artist who focuses primarily on painting portraits. Where Small diverges from the classic painter, though, is he creates his pieces using reclaimed and found items in the community, using metal objects like old fridges, other household appliances or even parts of wrecked cars. His portraits are meant to draw attention to the diverse and dispossessed. His final pieces are of the city and consist of things society has forgotten.
Links: Here’s a look at Small’s Instagram page.
Beau Stanton (USA)
Website: www.beaustanton.com
Dates in town: August 2016
Wall location: West wall of McDonald Theater, 1010 Willamette St. (44.048658, -123.092892)
Mural description
About: Stanton lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. and draws his inspiration for his big-wall art from historic ornamentation, religious iconography and classical painting. He does everything from large-scale installations to stained glass, mosaics and multimedia animations. His most recent project was a month-long animated installation titled “Voyage” as part of Midnight Moment in Times Square in downtown Manhattan.
Links: Here’s a look at the other murals Stanton has done.
Telmo Miel (Netherlands)
Website: www.widewalls.ch/artist/telmo-miel
Dates in town: July/August 2017
Wall location: Oregon Contemporary Theatre/West wall of Shaw-Med Inc. 198 W Broadway (44.049603, -123.095623)
Mural description
About: Dutch artistic duo, Telmo Pieper and Miel Krutzmann — known as Telmo Miel — have worked together since meeting at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam, Netherlands in 2007, and officially became Telmo Miel in 2012. Balancing somewhere between surreal and realistically rendered, their murals embody an immense attention to detail and vivid color.
Links: Here’s a look at what they’ve been up to lately.
Hua Tunan (China)
Website: huatunan.tumblr.com
Dates in town: June 14-23, 2017
Wall location: Web Picture Frames and Vistra Framing, 411 West 4th (44.055901, -123.098809)
Mural description
About: Born in 1991 in Foshan, Guangdong province, Tunan’s street-art style combines traditional Chinese art with Western graffiti through the use of action and splatter painting to create bold compositions of animals.
Links: Here’s a look at Hua Tunan’s Facebook page.
Dan Witz (USA)
Website: www.danwitz.com
Dates in town: July/August 2017
Wall location: Various installations around town
Mural description
About: Born in Chicago, Illi. in 1957, Witz has been consistently creating art since the late 1970s and is considered to be one of the pioneers of the street art movement. Currently residing in Brooklyn, N.Y. Witz is well known for his street art but his artistic repertoire also includes painting, photography, graphic design, film, books and other publications.
Links: Here’s a look at what he’s been up to lately.
WK Interact (France, USA)
Website: www.wkinteract.com
Dates in town: July/August 2018
Wall location: 1166 Oak St. (First Christian Church south wall) (44.047028, -123.091611)
Mural description
About: WK (WK Interact), from France, has lived and worked in New York since the early 1990s. WK is interested in the human body in motion and his paintings of figures frozen in a flight of movement reflect this. The artist’s unique process involves a technique of twisting an original drawing or photograph while it’s being photocopied, resulting in the monochromatic palette and streamlined moment-in-time appearance of his finished work.
Links: Here’s a look at WK Interact’s Instagram page.
