Portuguese Artist Bordalo II has just completed a new wall in the city of Nancy, France. His polar bear and two cubs have been created on the wall of a nursery school. I don’t think he could possibly find a better audience for the message about environmental emergency awareness.
The artist states, “This is the first time I’ve made a polar bear. A species that, unfortunately, perfectly illustrates the urgency of the situation. Doing it on a school wall makes all the more sense, because I’m still hopeful that the younger generations won’t repeat the same mistakes we made in the past, and are still making today.”
Galerie Mathgoth curated and provided artistic support for the production of this work.
Five years ago, the city of Nancy implemented a major cultural policy focused on urban art and it is within the framework of the “ADN” (Art Dans Nancy) program that this new fresco was created. Bordalo joins some of the other greats such as Jef Aerosol, Kogaone, David Walker, Momo or Vhils.
Born in Lisbon in 1987, the insanely talented Artur Bordalo aka Bordalo II grew up watching his grandfather, Real Bordalo, a painter widely known for his watercolors of Lisbon. Bordalo II initially studied art at the University of Lisbon and (as is the case with some of the great street artists) dropped out to follow his real passion – graffiti.
Bordalo II had the idea to make beautiful animal sculptures from rubbish while creating a wall sculpture.
One day, he started to assemble objects he had put aside to create a stand to paint on, and then realized the objects could also be used to create something aesthetically interesting, while giving them meaning.
The in demand 33-year-old has decorated Lisbon, Paris, Berlin, Las Vegas and many other cities around the world, with his colourful foxes, owls, monkeys, and chameleons.
His productions depend a lot on wherever in the world he finds himself. Bordalo II uses materials he’s found in local rubbish dumps and roadsides to make his stunning artwork and it is not only a spectacular way to recycle, but also the artist’s commentary of the world we live in. One of his best-known works is a four-metre-high raccoon made from old tyres, car parts, and electrical components, that gazes down on passers-by.
I’m fortunate enough to inhabit a seaside city where Bordalo II created a five metre high seagull commissioned by Fatboy Slim in 2018 (it can be found on the side of Fatboy Slim’s Big Beach Café in Hove, UK). He made this seagull sculpture using broken wheelie bins, car bumpers and discarded toys – and the two artists are big fan’s of each other.
When the Portuguese artist is not travelling abroad, he is busy working on his sculptures in his small studio in a northern Lisbon neighborhood.
Bordalo II: website | facebook | instagram
Galerie Mathgoth: website | facebook | instagram
