The Serbian Street Artist Artez just wrapped up his trip to Santa Cruz de La Palma (Canary Islands), leaving behind a wonderful new mural. Curated by Santa Cruz, Capital del Color, the initiative aims to beautify parts of the Capital by restorations of buildings and by bringing colors and vibrancy to the city walls.
About The Mural
Artez’s style is defined by mixing photorealism with illustration, and this mural is perfect example of Artez’s talent and his interpretations to the subject matter. Titled “Soñando con San Borondón” (Dreaming of San Brandon), the mural depicts a woman looking to the sea, carrying over her shoulders what looks like a huge glass vase containing a whale with plans coming out of his back. The concept for this mural was inspired by the legend of San Borondon.
The legend of San Borondon – the eighth Canary Island?
Its name is the Canarian version of Saint Brendan of Clonfert, an Irish monk who lived around 500AD.
There is an old Irish poem that tells of Brendan, sailing off with a group of other monks on a small vessel across the Atlantic Ocean. The legend tells of their encountering demons that hurled fire and “floating crystal columns” (possibly icebergs?).
Brendan and the other monks eventually landed on an island that seemed reasonably hospitable, though uninhabited. As they were saying mass, the island suddenly started to move. It turned out to be a gigantic sea creature and they were on its back. How Brendon and his friends managed to extricate themselves from this predicament is unclear, but, in due course, we find him back in Ireland.
When the Canaries were conquered in the 15th century, a story was discovered, popular with the native Guanches, about an eighth island which sometimes was seen to the West of La Palma, El Hierro and La Gomera. Sailors tried to reach it, but as they approached the area, everything seemed covered in mist and they found nothing.
A breathtaking connection was made and this mysterious, elusive enigma was immediately named as Saint Brendan’s living island and therefore called “San Borondon”.
The post-conquest Tinerfeños began to fiercly assert its existence, some seafarers swearing that they had landed on the island and had a look round before it sank into the ocean again.
The strength of feeling for the possible existence of San Borondón is such that, in official documents regarding its sovereignty over the Canary Islands, the Kingdom of Castille would say “the islands of Canaria, already discovered or yet to be discovered”. That was insurance, right there!
Text by Tenerife Information Centre
About The Artist
Born in 1988 in Belgrade, Artez is a Serbian artist whose style is defined by a mixture of photorealism and illustration. He draws inspiration for his works, from the things and persons that are present in his everyday life. He earned his degree at the Faculty of Architecture in Belgrade (2013).
He first started tagging in the streets under the pseudonym ARTE, but the name didn’t sound cool so he decided to add Z at the end. and from then on he adopted ARTEZ as his alias.
