We arrived back in our beloved Algarve late Wednesday, and spent most of Thursday settling into our new apartment, catching up with stall holders in the market and enjoying a very long lunch at our favourite restaurant Vai e Volta. Took us until Friday to explore the town, and just look at what we found.
These fabulous murals take up the whole of Largo and Rua da Fábrica Velha, on the edge of the Bairro do Levante, in Olhão. They are the work of four artists who specialise in urban art – Asur, a Portuguese artist known as dgiphi for commission work, and Pedro “Mistik”, “Gnose” and “Kaset” from The Satori Artistic Association.
The association was set up in 1999 and is Algarvian based – currently located on the Salir bridge. They aim to train, support and give opportunities to unrecognized artists, and clearly are well recognised and well respected in the Algarve since it was the council which commissioned them to undertake this work.
They used old photographs as their source material, and so within a few minutes you quickly get a feel for what life was once like here. Apparently a few locals visited the artists during the gallery creation to point out that it was them or a parent they were painting.
But they haven’t just brought Olhão’s past to life, they have also turned what were once dilapidated buildings into a fabulous street gallery.
There are three different styles as the artists worked on their own walls. I liked them all and together they create something quite special. On one side there is the detail of the factory workers, then around the corner there are the back streets of Olhão, and then there is life at and beside the sea.
If you want to discover more about the artists, including a great shot of the four of them visit here, and for more Six Word Saturdays visit Debbie.
Came across these today quite by accident. They are truly stunning.
They are wonderful aren’t they. I must do another post on them one of these days.
Oh what a lovely thing to say xx
Ohh, these are gorgeously done. So subdued and effective. I love the horses, and the birds, and the dog! And the slight smiles of the factory workers and fishermen. <3 Excellent!
They are just wonderful aren’t they. Such a wonderful thing to have done.
May I simply point out this work – funded by the câmara – is not “new”? Found this on Flickr from July 2017, so work obviously started before then:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cyclingshepherd/36091962115/in/dateposted-public/
ah but it is new to me as I only discovered it on our return last week!
You are right though it has been here a few months – the work started in June I believe and finished in September, Still quite new though.
They take street art to a whole new level!
Certainly do . . . . must pop back there this week to photograph before all the cars arrive.
Is the same work still there now B?
It is 😊 and looking just as fabulous as it was when I did this post.
Lovely art. Portugal is on my list of places to see Planning a trip there in 2019.
Oh fabulous – such a wonderful country you’ll love it 😀
Fantastic creativity and wonderful street art. Love it 🙂
Incredible what they’ve created and was such a wonderful surprise. Apparently only took them 3 months.
So much so. They are quite unique & tell a story. That dog is a surprise 😀
He was hiding behind one of the parked cars. Must go back one morning this week to discover whether I’ve missed anything.
How exciting to be at the start of another wonderful adventure. Looking forward to reading more in the coming days.
We’re so pleased to be back. And I’m looking forward to sharing more new finds with you 😀