The Aftenblad Wall, Sandra Chevrier Nuart 2015

During this years festivities Nuart did their own collaboration with Stavanger Aftenblad newspaper and launched a new public art initiative that will see invited artists create work on a large-scale billboard in the heart of Stavanger, called ‘The Aftenblad Wall’.

The Aftenblad Wall, in the Storhaug area of Stavanger, will provide selected Norwegian and international contemporary artists the opportunity to adopt the scale and visibility of advertising to display their work in the public domain. The first Aftenblad Wall’s inaugural artist is the Canadian painter Sandra Chevrier, who will be creating her largest work to date.
In a world where city-dwellers are exposed to 3000 – 4000 advertisements per day, subverting advertisements (or ‘subvertising’) has become a useful tool for challenging the number of commercial messages in our urban environment.

The Aftenblad Wall is unique however in that it is a permanent site for public art rather than a temporary billboard intervention.

Photo © John-Rodger

Nuart will extend invitations to four artists per year, whose work will stand for three months before being pasted over in the same way as commercial billboards. Selected artists will be invited from a pool whose practice is predominantly studio-based as apposed to those already working in the streets. The purpose is to provide the opportunity and encouragement for artists to employ the strategies used by street artists in bypassing the traditional routes into the art world by presenting their work directly to people in the public domain.

“Gradually, more and more ‘outsider’ and self-taught artists are finding their way into museum shows, but what can ‘fine’ artists learn from street artists and the strategies employed by them to reach wider audiences? Working directly on the streets is liberating and allows artists to circumnavigate the traditional routes into and through the art world. At the same time, through adopting the medium of advertisers – in this case a large scale billboard -artists are addressing the question of who has the power to create messages and meaning in our public spaces. We are delighted to be welcoming Sandra Chevrier back to Stavanger as The Aftenblad Wall’s inaugural artist. Sandra is a well-known artist both locally and internationally, and we are very excited that she will produce her largest work to date here” Martyn Reed

The ‘Aftenbald wall’ will be her first street, and largest art piece Sandra has painted outdoors. Titled “La Cage Pres du Ciel (The Cage Close to the Sky),”

“Very proud to be a part of this and have the honor to be the first artist to kick off Nuart’s “Art Billboard” project, a project that gives contemporary artists the opportunity to work on the scale of street art in the the public sphere” Sandra Chevrier

 

Photo ©John-Rodger

So what are your thoughts about the Aftenbald Walls initiative?… Should art on the streets keep to its true nature, or has this initiative provided a stepping ladder and an opportunity… the line drawn between artists is definitely fading… Street artists now exhibit in galleries and ‘insider’ artists now have an opportunity to paint on the streets …whatever you feel its public art for all to enjoy…

Photo © GraffitiStreet

Be sure to check back very soon to read our comprehensive blog about Nuart festival 2015.

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