Taken from an interview with The national Museum of Mosaics and Murals. – full article here
When asked about the state of the modern urban visual environment, most people see the crowded mix of billboard advertisements and graffiti as the unfortunate but inevitable result of an economically and culturally liberal society. While it may not be very pretty to look at, most people aren’t too concerned with the ways in which advertisers and graffiti taggers can co-op much of the visual space in a modern city. UK-born artists Aiden Hughes and Rory Wilmer, however, have made it their mission, through a number of different artistic endeavors, to reclaim public space for the public.
“We hope to convince the masses that public space has a value… the Creation Project”
With their current work through the Creation Project and BOGArt, both currently based in the Czech capital Prague, they hope to convince the masses that public space has a value that shouldn’t be trumped by lowest-common-denominator commercial interests and apathy towards vandalism.
The artists working on the Creation project in Prague and the UK were also present in Barga a decade ago and the 75 metre long graffiti in Barga is still making news a decade later even though the work was only on view for 5 days before being totally covered up with earth as work continued on the car park being constructed below Barga Vecchia.
The mural is now on the database of the National Museum of Mosaic and Murals (their site is here)
From the barganews archives 2003: The long running story of the new cark park being built just below Barga Vecchia took a new twist this morning with the discovery that during the night a graffiti artist had used the new concrete retaining wall as a canvas for his latest “masterpiece”.
As the above image shows, the 75 metre long retaining wall that had only been erected less than a week before was now longer a pristine white but a colour design stretching the full length and width of the wall.
The sheer size of the work has surprised many. The absence of a moon over the weekend must have made the work extremely difficult to do in the dark but of course also helped to keep the whole thing hidden from the eyes of passing motorists, that is until the dawn came up to reveal the completed image.
Local authorities are not that amused by the whole affair but are slightly more relaxed about the incident in the knowledge that the wall will be covered in earth in the coming weeks. Local people and the occasional tourists with cameras have been seen gathering on the road above the wall to look at and photograph the wall before it is once more hidden from view.
In the bottom right hand corner of the wall there is a signature which reads “BRUTE! 2003” A search on the internet brings up the information that the name BRUTE! is used by an artist living in England called Aiden Hughes who has created other works of art of large dimensions such as the Barga Wall in other places in Europe including Britain, France and the Czech Republic.
A statement from Aiden Hughes about the work can be seen here.
This morning large crowds where out in force on the road above the carpark after the following article appeared in Il Terreno newspaper.
The art of Aiden Hughes was on view to the public for a total of only 5 days. Yesterday afternoon, 6th April 2003, the wall was covered up. – complete article with more images here
