While many readers will consider graffiti as a synonym of art, some others will observe it as vandalism. Moreover, writers usually paint their tags on metal shutters, windows or at any other cityscape element. However, from time to time city councils from all over Spain have to fight against the throw-ups painted on nature. That’s the reason why Collado Villalba‘s Environmental councelor developed an antivandalism plan. Sea162 developed this rock wall street art project.
According to INE, the National Statistics Institute, last 2021 63,825 inhabitants lived on this population located 40 kilometers away from the Spanish capital city, including countless abandoned granite quarries. It was in one of those excavations where the artist painted an owl using natural pigments obtained from his trips around the national territory, including the Canary Islands.
Today’s article will dig deeper into the artist’s motivation and the whole process of repainting graffiti names with a masterpiece. The whole world should take it as an example:
- Sea162’s artistic approach
- What was the city council’s involvement?
- Similar projects developed in other mountain ranges
Who’s the artist behind this amazing rock art- wall street art project?
First of all, we should mention that the quarry located in front of ‘Caño Viejo’ Fountain was painted by Sea162. This 37 years old artist has been living in this town since he was 10. Similarly to what happened with many other artists such as Okuda, Vhils or Obey he was influenced by graffiti during his high-school years. Despite that, this wall street art project became possible thanks to his determination, hard work and personal interest to investigate with paints and pigments obtained from mother Earth.
In order to learn how to use natural mineral resources he has travelled around the country. On those trips, he did meet & greet local ceramists and potters. Thanks to their humbleness and knowledge, he has obtained a valuable experience that was later used in Collado Villalba. However, one of the main characteristics of working with colors obtained from the ground is that they are unpredictable.
Furthermore, the goal behind his mural projects is to set a space for joy. A spot where people could enjoy an artwork, while getting a kick out of nature. What were the different pigmets used in the development of this owl artwork?
- Rojo Mollet. Red pigments obtained thanks to Miguel Mollet.
- Naranja Tamarite, taken from the northeastern country side (Huesca).
What was the process that Sea162 and his team followed to create this rock art project?
Thanks to the local council’s involvement, Sea162 did not work on his own. At first, construction workers helped him settle the grounds. As you may imagine, after years of abandonement the most important thing for any labor force was to make sure that safety assured the workers daily tasks. Later, professional rock climbers installed several access points so that the artist could reach the wall street art areas that were not easily accesible by a ladder.
In total, approximately 60 days passed until the artist finished his project. The opening event which showcased Murillo’s artwork took students from Monteverdi school, an authorized Centre for Elementary and Professional Music Studies, to perform in front of the press and the local audience.
Other wall street art projects developed by Sea162
The fact is that Alonso Murillo is not only an artist who developes professional graffiti services in Madrid. Similarly to what he did at this time, he restored and decorated other areas within the region and other European sites. Here you will find samples of other wall street art projects developed by him in the past:
- An artistic development in Driebes (Guadalajara) in which he painted an outard (bird). In order to carry out the artwork, he studied the animal’s mating, its dance, and the folklore from the local community.
- Les Loups, wolf decoration at Villars-Fontaine (France) for the festival Street Art On Roc. He inspired himself on the animal and its communication routes, integrating the environment as another landscaping element.
- Cava Rosso Rubino in Toscana (Italy). An abandoned pink marble quarry decorated back in 2018.
Cooltourspain’s opinion about the artwork
We believe that the commitment from Collado Villalba’s city council towards graffiti and wall street art should include legal walls where young adults and teenagers have the opportunity to paint without taking care of police officers. For your information, our professional graffiti writers have been requesting that since 2016. If you wish to include your point of view in this article, do not hesitate on sending us your comments through the following form:
Leave a Reply