Charlie Smith
WHILE Spain’s streets remain bereft of human life, a few colourful faces are still out and about in Estepona.
Just before the coronavirus lockdown came into force, the town’s annual mural competition returned.
But it is unlikely the 10 new selected works will be seen by most people any time soon, so the Olive Press set about capturing these sleeping beauties.
An international crop of artists completed their works just days before the Government put Spain into lockdown on March 14.
Included were muralists from Uruguay, Canada, Argentina, the Czech Republic, Italy, Brazil and Mexico.
This year the jury of the International Artistic Murals Contest of Estepona received 104 submissions – 48% more than last year.
The Town Hall gave each participant €1,000 for expenses, while prizes of €5,000 and €10,000 for first and second prize are still to be decided.
All artists were also provided food, accomodation, enough paint for a nine by 18 metre mural, a cherry picker and a safety course for its use.
The 10 pieces of street art mean there are now 60 works in Estepona’s ‘Route of Artistic Murals’, which began in 2012.
Estepona Mayor Jose Maria garcia Urbano said: “The Route of Artistic Murals in Estepona is a well-established urban art project that is already a reference point in our country and outside our borders.”
The 10 new murals, their artists and where to find them:
- Estepona dresses in flowers – Susana Velasco (Calle Felix Rodriguez de la Fuente)
- Nourish – Samantha Jordaan (Calle Terraza)
- Gambin rot – Alejandro Gambin Vicente (Calle Santo Domingo de Guzman)
- Untitled – El Chorro Arts (Calle Terraza)
- The fall – Vyacheslav Gunin (Calle Terraza)
- Illusion – Jose Antonio Barrientos-Barri (Calle San Roque)
- The blue phase of curious bird – Andre Farkas (Calle San Juan Bosco)
- Fragmentation of a specific environment – Alberto Montes Sanchez (Prolongacion Avenida San Lorenzo)
- Passing moment – Angel Caballero Rioja, aka Xolaka (Calle San Roque)
- Untitled – Alex Senna (Calle Cristobal Ruiz Mendez)
