We've had a number of submissions from intrepid Vancouver photographers over mural festival. We want to keep encouraging people to submit their ideas. In the meantime, STICK* decided to check in with a report from the Vancouver Mural Festival.
So we took a closer look.
No... like the closest look.
We found our favourite patch of paint on three of the murals that were still being painted and snapped a photo. That probably seems crazy right? Why capture a small splash of colour when you could zoom out and capture the the full work? That's a good point, but these murals are so often captured in full, by people much more talented.
We wanted to show what goes into a mural, because even though they stand in broad view, for many years, the process of actually painting them is part of the excitement of wandering around the Vancouver Mural Festival in the first place.
Carole Mathys "Reclaimed" at 195 W Broadway
This close up shows the bold clean colour strokes, likely showing application by roller, or brush. Zoom out and the artists has blocked these colours together to create a mass of plant life and human limbs. Strikingly the hands pressed into the ground with roots growing from them seem to refer to humanity's relationship with nature.
Animalitoland "Presence" at 7 W 7th Ave
I first saw work from this artist during the COVID19 Robson street mural festival. Now, much larger Animalitoland has created a bright, if uneasy spot in the darkness on the full side of a building. In a year where many of the murals are spaced out all over the city this on feels like an instant classic, in the heart of the Mount Pleasant industrial area where many of the older murals stand. Up close, you can see the work was made with spray-paint. While far away, the work looks like a uniform ombre, up close you can see the splatter of two colours meeting.
Oakland Galbraith "Vancouver: A People Powered Future" at 298 E 11th Ave Alley
First of all this young artist is brilliant. Doing his first mural at 12-years-old and absolutely knocking it out of the park. To add an interesting and powerful bump to his work he asked followers to donate to their local Black Lives Matter organization and then dedicating a star to them. This photo captures one of those stars close up in all it's sparkly glory.
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