Big City Life, Rome 2015

Posted by Donna on 10th April, 2015
Filed under: From the Street

‘Big City Life‘ is a public art project for urban regeneration, cultural and social development curated by 999contemporary. The Big City Life project collaborated with the local community and twenty local and international street artists to beautify and culturally enrich the Tor Marancia district of Rome in forty-three days.

The Tor Marancia district was originally the slums of Italy and attracted flooding, crime and poverty. Eight decades on has seen the area transformed radically and now even more so with eleven post war buildings being made into monumental murals.

Artists invited include Seth, Jaz, Gaia, Philippe Baudelocque, Mr Klevra, Alberonero, Danilo Bucchi, Domenico Romeo, Satone, Lek & Sowat, Moneyless, Clemens Behr, Reka, Jerico, Matteo Basilé, Diamond and Pantonio.

Hong Kong street artist Caratoes mural ‘Welcome to Shanghai 35’ plays on the nickname of the township “Shanghai” during the violence and poverty. Tor Marancia was founded in 1935 as a result of forced evictions carried out in Piazza Venezia, and the town subsequently developed after the war when the Law De Gasperi on the rehabilitation of villages and social housing came into place.

Caratoes

From the title “Alme Sol Invictus”Italian artist Domenico Romeo was inspired by the sun-god of the ancient romans, offering to the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, hope for the future. Through his symbols the artist stimulus a rebirth of a social and economic revival of these once poor areas of Rome.

Domenico Romeo

Romeo

Argentian Jaz painted two wrestlers representing the weight of the history ‘Il Peso della Storia’ for the town of Tor Marancia.

Jaz

Jaz

Jaz

Jaz

JAZ

Italian Mr Klevra wants to leave a reassuring and welcoming image. The mural is of a tender embrace between a woman and a child. The lady is Rome embracing her son, the township. Mr Klevra felt the neighbourhood needs attention and love.

Mr Klevra

Filipino street artist Jerico has just completed this very spring and uplifting masterpiece inspired by “The Hand Of God” by Michelangelo, Rome.

Jerico

Clearly inspired by traditional Italian art Australian street artist Reka mural is simple abstracted still life, featuring typical pieces found in still life paintings ,fruit, a wine glass and statue figures.

Reka

Portuguese Pantonio and his take on ‘Ponentino’, a particularly dynamic piece of the typical Roman breeze. The enormous piece represents whales and fishing conjointly swimming in his fibrous and fluid style.

Pantonio

Italian street artist Moneyless also painted along with this theme and produced his mural ‘wind’ in one day. The traits are broken and dynamic and the perfect geometric minimalism representation of the Roman breeze.

Moneyless

Italian artist Matteo Basile giant pasting, ‘Ordine e Desordine’ ,meaning Order and disorder, is of a red-faced portrait of Chinese contemporary artist and activist Ai Weiwei. Basilé owns the extraordinary capacity to conciliate opposing ideas such beauty and grotesque, natural and artificial.

Matteo Basile

Street Artists Lek & Sowat were inspired by the story of Andrea Vinci. Andrea is a disabled 27-year-old who became paralysed from the waist down in an accident as a child. Andrea lives on the second floor of the building they were painting and sadly there is no elevator. Every day his brother comes to visit and carries him up and down the stairs on his shoulders. Lek & Sowat dedicated ‘Veni, vidi, vinci’, a tribute to the Latin motto and to the brothers.

Lek and Sowat

French artist Seth, however, told a different story of the neighbourhood by dedicating his mural to a young boy named Luke. Luke lived in the building and died after an accident while playing football. Seth has made sure Luke’s memory lives on and what a beautiful and proud piece for the family.

Seth

American street artist Gaia challenges our perceptions of reality just as Italian artist Giorgio De Chirico did. The chosen disordered images reflect Rome, known for its orange groves and rooted sculptural history. A beautiful tribute to De Chirico’s memory.

Gaia

“To become truly immortal a work of art must escape all human limits: logic and common sense will only interfere. But once these barriers are broken it will enter the regions of childhood vision and dream.” De Chirico

Street artist Diamonds tribute ‘Oleander’ remembers the nickname of the former Roman town “Shanghai” and is of a sleeping woman with flowers in their hair holding a diamond and wrapped around her is a dragon.

” Rome is a beautiful woman asleep , immobile a city that can not wake up from slumber .” Diamond

Diamond

German artist Clemens Behr uses the simplest materials to create complex ephemeral architectures.

Clemens Behr

Italian Danilo Bucchi mural ‘Assolo’ meaning solo is of a black and white simple and beautiful image on a woman. Later on he adds the red glamorous shoes.

Danilo Bucchi

Frenchman Philippe Baudelocque uses the hand of Elizabeth, one of the inhabitants of the building.

Philippe Baudelocque

Italian Alberonero uses host of colourful paintings ‘A Carlo Alberto 93 colors’.

Alberonero

German artist SatOne latest addition is entitled ‘Talking like a waterfall’. This abstracted mural is based on the idea of the daily verbal and non-verbal communication between the residents of the Tor Marancia neighbourhood. the artist has witnessed a lively discussion that broke out between two people of different levels of the complex.

SatOne

Here are four more walls been added to the beautiful art already there, a few months later…

Vhils

Brad Downey

Guildo Van Helten

Best Ever

I think you will agree the group of artists have such diverse styles and the quality and talent is immense. Tor Marancia is now definitely on the map! ….Bellissima

Alberonero

Philippe Baudelocque

Danilo Bucchi

Clemens Behr

Diamond

Gaia

JAZ

Jerico

Lek and Sowat

Moneyless

Pantonio

Reka

Romeo

SatOne

Seth

Matteo Basile

Caratoes

Vhils

Brad Downey

Guildo Van Helten

Best Ever

Poster

Map

There is also a book to purchase following the walls and the artists…

This impressive project was devised by 999Contemporary, organised by Francesca Mezzano and curated by Stefano S. Antonelli and Gianluca Marziani. ‘Big City Life’ had the support of Roma Capitale Division of Culture, Creativity, artistic Promotion and Tourism, and by the Foundation Roma-Arte-Musei. Congrats!

Photos courtesy of 999contemporary.

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Posted on April 10, 2015

Big City Life, Rome 2015

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