Italian artist Fabio Petani – a native of Turin, was recently invited to paint a wall for UpNorth Festival in northern Norway. The festival focuses on urban art and its main objective is to offer public, high quality art in environments where traditionally, one wouldn’t expect to find street art. UpNorth is a bit of a traveling circus really, with each year finding a new location (but always remaining in Nordaland).
This new mural, entitled Pinene & Sorbus Aucuparia was painted on an old boat factory in Rognan. The factory is now home to Slipen Scene, one of Norway’s most important concert halls. Petani’s primary colors are black and white, with shades of blue and turquoise showcasing the leaves; the plant seen in the circle is called Sorbus Aucuparia (‘Rogn’ is the Norwegian name of the plant) and Pinene is the chemical compost that was used to mix colors and resins (made from pine plants) of the boats that were once built here. This mural blends in beautifully with its natural surroundings and may lead observers to believe it was always meant to be exactly where it is.
Born in Pinerolo, Turin, Petani earned a Masters degree in Cultural Heritage Studies from the University of Turin and wrote his M.A. thesis on Urban Art & Street Culture. The research for his thesis allowed him to connect with the art scene in Turin, which he soon became a part of, by eventually becoming an artist himself. For all intents and purposes, he’s self-taught, which gives him artistic freedom – he’s not bound by the rules and constraints that are often associated to the study of art. Thus, Petani has cultivated his own concept of art and very successfully, at that. Petani’s work typically focuses on the transformation of shapes that compose urban landscape(s). He uses lines, abstraction of geometrical forms and symbolism that complement each other, allowing his work to connect to the environment in which it is created. Despite abiding to the same principles of abstraction, Petani’s murals are richly diverse and not at all repetitive. The first word that comes to mind when I see his work is ‘organic’ – probably because they strike me as being born into the landscape in which they now reside.
In addition to painting outdoor murals (he does love to paint on rustic surfaces), he also works with paper and canvas, using ink, markers, oil color and spray paint.
