In this era of the inescapable “spin zone” where alternate facts rain supreme and consumers must learn for themselves how to discern native advertising from genuine content, it can be a tiring daily job to decipher what is fact and what is fiction. Truth itself is a concept than numerous artists have taken on through the ages, many times from a cynical or adversarial standpoint. Others, like Artez, opt to approach the idea a little more gently.
At first blush, the artist’s most recent mural titled “Do Not Judge” in Tirana, Albania shows a simple scene. An older man with just a touch of gray in his beard pensively carries a bike alone. The large-scale image has a faintly cartoonish quality to it, attributed to the artist’s use of subtle yet perceptible outlines. The soft pink sky in the background, contrasted by hazy mountains in the middle distance only furthers this element of innocent playfulness.
Upon closer inspection, the viewer can notice the bike has a lock around its gears. This somewhat obscures the mural’s apparent narrative, leaving the viewer with questions. Herein lies the true purpose of Artez’s most recent work, which aims to show how powerful these minute details can be. In his own words, the artist explains, “By controlling the flow of information, certain groups of people are able to manipulate the way we think and influence our opinions. Media control is a very powerful tool that sometimes becomes a weapon for promoting hate and fear.”
Artez is an enthusiastic native of Belgrade, Serbia. Born in 1988, the artist first found inspiration in exploring his expressive path when he encountered tags in their natural habitat at around age 10. From there he began perfecting his own tag, eventually expanding into full scale pieces with a work that was quickly covered after he trespassed and created it on his own school’s property.
Artez has explained his motivations behind this initial incident, stating, “Looking back at those days, and thinking about why I did it, I wouldn’t say that I wanted to leave my name just for sake of self promotion. I think that somewhere deep inside I felt I might inspire someone with my little intervention, like the other people have inspired me. This same feeling is the main reason why I am still painting – I hope that my work will inspire other people, and if that happens I know that I didn’t paint for nothing!”
Today, Artez is well known for his well-developed style, which plays with the dichotomy of photorealism and illustration. Artez draws his inspiration from everyday life, oftentimes starting work with a photo for reference and allowing improvisation to carry him to his final product. This experimentation allows for the balanced, effective interplay of various style throughout the artist’s work for which he has become well-known globally.
“Do Not Judge” was completed as part of Mural Fest Tirana, a yearly event organized by the city’s municipality under the name Dekor Tirana and the Italian laboratory 167 / B Street based in Lecce. Mural Fest Tirana hosts a variety of world-renowned street artists from different nations with the intention of beautifying every available canvas in the city’s urban space. A piece on the festival published by Tirana Radio International notes that the event “aims to develop street art and encourage artists to express their subconsciousness in public, making Tirana a colorful and vibrant capital.” The addition of Artez’s “Do Not Judge” not only expresses the artist’s subconscious, but also addresses how the powers that be can have a deep, lasting effect on each of our own inner minds.
