Founded in 2014, KIRK Gallery’s ‘Out in the Open’ project in Aalborg, Denmark brings art out of the gallery and into the streets, making it accessible to the many rather than the few. On his inaugural venture into Danish soil, Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto aka Vhils added to KIRK gallery by creating this mural within the context of his ‘Scratching the Surface’ project (started by the artist in 2007).
Vhils’ first session on this mural took place during the night, allowing the citizens of Aalborg to wake up in the morning to a glimpse of what was to come.
Vhils destroys as a means to create. Like an archaeologist, he removes in order to expose, bringing to light the beauty that lies trapped beneath the surface of things. His poignant, poetic portraits are created by chiselling, carving, etching and blasting through the surface of flaking walls, with the exposed layers providing the necessary contrast and depth to bring them to life. His ‘Scratching the Surface’ project has so far taken place in almost 90 locations in over 30 countries, and aims to bring life to cities and to render public space a more humanized environment.
This mural, based on portrait of this young lady, is one of the everyday heroes that Vhils usually pays homage to: people that shape and are shaped by the cities they live in. This groundbreaking carving technique has been hailed as one of the most compelling approaches to the urban art scene on a global scale.
Other artists forming ‘Out in the Open’ 2019 include: Fintan Magee (AU), Seth (F), Telmo Miel (NL), Oliver Vernon (US), Joram Roukes (NL), Nils Westergard (US), each of them bringing their personal vision to an art mural in the public space.
An avid experimentalist, Vhils has been developing his personal aesthetics in a plurality of media: from stencil painting to metal etching, from pyrotechnic explosions and video to sculptural installations. He has also directed several music videos, short films, and one stage production.
Vhils has presented his work in over 30 countries around the world in solo and group exhibitions, site-specific art interventions, artistic events and projects in various contexts – from working with communities in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, to collaborations with reputed artistic and museological institutions such as the EDP Foundation (Lisbon), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Barbican Centre (London), CAFA Art Museum (Beijing), or the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (San Diego), among others.
Vhils: website | facebook | instagram
KIRK Gallery: website | facebook | instagram
