The second annual, multi-city Street Art Festival UPEA has begun in Finland. UPEA17 has invited local and international artists, such as Guido van Helten, Fintan Magee, Apolo Torres & Pat Perry, Rustam Qbic, Jani Leinonen, Andrea Wan, Artez, Dulk, Eero Lampinen, Messy Desk, Millo, Onur, Ricky Lee Gordon, Roberto Ciredz, Smug, Telmo Miel, Vesod, Wasp Elder and many more … to paint twenty large scale murals in thirteen different Finnish cities …
Wasp Elder (aka Sam Worthington) was invited to paint a huge wall in Turku on Ke Street 11.
He often paints pictures populated by enigmatic figures and unstressed backgrounds, enticing a sentiment of an obscure journey.
For Upeart he paints a scene from an old photograph found in the Suomen valokuvataiteen museo archives and used it as an inspiration for his own work.
The original picture is taken by Finnish photographer and film maker Eino Makinen.
The picture originates from a film that Eino Makinen made in 1930 called ‘Winter Village’ where he documented the cultural traditions and rituals of peasant life.
“In my reinterpretation I have cut the image up resulting in a narrative which shows the fragility of between generations.” Wasp Elder
UPEA is organised by the Finnish street art association Upeart ry. The festival started on Friday 1st of September and will finish by the end of September 2017.