St+Art Festival Delhi 2015

St+Art India have returned to New Delhi with its third edition of the urban international street art festival following on from the success of last year. During the next two months, Delhi is once again being transformed into a hub of some of the best street artists from India and across the world, working on and developing eight special projects organised by St+Art India foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that works on art projects in public spaces.

Lady Aiko in action. Photo by Akshat Nauriyal

Lady Aiko and volunteers in action. Photo by Akshat Nauriyal

Axel Void. Photo by Pranav-Mehta

Axel Void. Photo by Pranav-Mehta

“The vision of St+Art India foundation is to provide a platform for street artists from all over the world to come and connect with the Indian movement. It is also for a platform for Indian artists to showcase their work and exchange ideas with the global community. At the same time its main focus is also to change the dull grey landscape of our cities and make it more interactive and colourful,” explains Hanif Kureshi, Creative Director at St+Art India Foundation.

Axel Void. Photo by Pranav-Mehta

Lady Aiko at Lodhi colony. Photo by Pranav Mehta

New Delhi welcomed the first edition of St+Art festival in January and February 2014, when urban villages like Shahpur Jat and Hauz Khas became the focal point of the growing street art scene in the capital. The festival continued with its second edition in St+Art Mumbai, in Nov-Dec 2014, converting places like Bandra, Peddar Road, Kandivali, Dharavi etc. into stunning street art sites. Now in its third edition, the festival aims at creating larger iconic landmarks in public spaces in Delhi, throughout February and March 2015.

Street art is a global subculture that is now flourishing in India. With the support of the government, previous editions of the festival saw the creation of the 150 foot Gandhi mural (tallest in India) at the Police Headquarters in ITO, the Dada Saheb Phalke mural (largest in India) on the MTNL Building in Bandra Reclamation and the longest mural on the outer boundary of Tihar Jail. 

commemoration day at the Gandhiji mural in ITO. Photo courtesy @startindia

Tihar jail. Photo courtesy @startindia

MTNL building in Bandra. Photo courtesy @startindia

“The street art phenomenon is now catching up in India with more people, along with government organizations coming forward to support us. The idea is to create artworks which are intricately linked to the fabric of Delhi. For instance, artists will work on developing murals around issues like women empowerment, Swachh Bharat Abbhiyan (clean India Project), etc. in order to have an immediate connect with the audience,” says Arjun Bahl, Festival Director and founding member of St+Art India Foundation.

Sergio, Shahpur Jat 2014. Photo courtesy @startindia

The street art festival St+Art Delhi 2015 will see the invited local and international street artists focusing on eight projects . These projects include 12 night shelters for the homeless at Rain Basera with the objective of enhancing their visual appeal and also help give more visibility to the people who live in the shelters.

PCO. Rain Basera, outer ring road. Photo by PCO

PCO. Photo courtesy of st+art Dehli

Other projects include transforming the quiet neighbourhood of Lodhi Colony into a vibrant open-air art gallery , transforming the Moolchand flyover and South Ex Underpass, both busy transport hubs, into permanent street-art spots. , Spanish street artist Okuda will be creating a mural at Khan Market, the Delhi Cold Storage building, the biggest fruit and vegetable market in Asia, murals will tell the story of the areas history. There is Street Knitting by Olek who will be transforming the city with her crochet creations and finally, the St+ART painted DTC bus will be operating from the end of February visiting the murals around Delhi with the aim of connecting people and promoting street art in India.

The festival sounds jam packed and the street artists who are taking these huge projects on board are Lady Aiko (Japan), 1010 (Germany), Okuda (Spain), Axel Void (US), Olek (Poland), DALeast (China), Paulo Ito (Brazil), Rukkit (Thailand), Samina (Portugal), Inti (Chile) and Anpu, PCO, Daku, Yantr, Ruchin and Sam Sam from India.

Okuda at Khan Market. photo by Pranav Mehta

Okuda at Khan Market. photo by Pranav Mehta

Okuda at Khan Market. photo by Pranav Mehta

Okuda at Khan Market. photo by Akshat-Nauriyal

Okuda at Khan Market. photo by Akshat-Nauriyal

Lady Aiko at Lodhi colony. photo by Pranav Mehta

Lady Aiko at Lodhi colony. photo by Akshat Nauriyal

Axel Void. photo by Pranav-Mehta

Axel Void. photo by Pranav-Mehta

Axel Void. photo by Pranav-Mehta

Axel Void. photo by Pranav-Mehta

DALeast at Lodhi colony. photo by Akshat Nauriyal

DALeast at Lodhi colony, ST+Art Festival 2015. Photo by Akshat Nauriyal

DALeast at Lodhi colony. photo by Akshat Nauriyal

DALeast at Lodhi colony. photo by Akshat Nauriyal

Rukkit. Photo by Pranav Mehta

Rukkit. Photo by Pranav Mehta

Stencil workshop by Samina. Photo by Pranav Mehta

Stencil workshop by Samina. Photo by Akshat Nauriyal

There was a  Sign Painting workshop by Painter Kafeel (One of India’s oldest and most famous artists known for traditional hand painted sign boards in India) and Hanif Kureshi (St+art  Creative Director). These workshops will continue throughout the festival. 

Asian Paints Colour Workshop. Photo by Pranav Mehta

Asian Paints Colour Workshop. Photo by Pranav Mehta

Asian Paints Colour Workshop. Photo by Akshat Nauriyal

Asian Paints Colour Workshop. Photo by Akshat Nauriyal

Asian Paints Colour Workshop. Photo by Akshat Nauriyal

The festival is in full swing and Rukkit has finished his second street piece at Gol Market, Sub station, Near Nirula’s Restaurant. As you can see animals and birds are a recurring theme in Rukkit’s work. We just love the colour!

Rukkit. Photo by Pranav Mehta

Rukkit. Photo by Pranav Mehta

Joao Samina experiments once again with portraits in his work. He got in touch with an Indian photographer, Ved Upadhyay, from whom he got a portrait of an Indian woman which was used in the piece on Ogaan Wall (Next to Imperfecto), Hauz Khas Village.

Joao Samina. Photo by Pranav Mehta.

Joao Samina. Photo by Pranav Mehta

1010’s work always has a strong sensitivity for the spaces. His approach, strictly architectonic, considers which kind of abyss can be open in the space he interacts with. He painted two walls as a part of the festival. The second wall (smaller piece) was painted in collaboration with some of the students at the School of Planning & Architecture, TIO and inspired by ancient Hindu architecture and “The Fractal Brain Theory” by Wai H. Tsang. His pieces breaks all boundaries and that’s why we can’t get enough of them!

1010. Photo by Pranav Mehta

1010. Photo by Pranav Mehta

We will keep you up to date with St-Art Delhi 2015 festival creations and murals as they complete so please check back at a later date.

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