February 2010: 999 in Turin

Bush took a lot of heat during his administration, but he's not the only world leader who receives criticism. Turin-based artist 999 knows how to morph a politician's worst qualities into the best form of street art. Armed with his stencils and wheatpasting supplies, 999 covers Italy with social commentary. He writes:

"I started making ‘street art’ with little stickers and stencils in 2005. My old works were uncertain and full of experimentation. Just for fun, I started make stencils and pasteup posters with my friends in my hometown. Afterwards, I looked for my own style and technique. Intrigued by old engravings and illustrations, I found inspiration on the 'net and in old books. Then I take the particulars, reshape them, and mix them with my personal style. I use a lot stencils on paper, so I create posters to pasteup in the streets."
"Now I live in Turin in the north Italy because I go to university there. But my hometown is Termoli, a little city on the coast of the Adriatic sea in the south of Italy. I work everywhere, but most of my posters are on the walls of Turin and Termoli."
"I'm not a collective; I just work by myself. In fact, my production is slow and discontinuous. My real life takes a lot of my time, so I can only work in my free time. However, I have a lot of friends who sporadically help me and I like working with other artists-friends."
"I don't know, really don't know. I realize that my present works are different from old one, but I don't know why. I paint in the backyard of my building in Turin; I make posters and then pasteup in the streets. I paint in the night, when people are sleeping, so I can spray peacefully. I like painting on walls but it's hard with big stencil and I must be fast. So I paint on walls when I can, on abandoned places, during exhibition or events, or even on walls with permission."

"One night, I went out with a local artist. He has a poster with a satirical image of Italian politic Borghezio transformed into a kebab (Borghezio and his political party hate foreign and Muslim people). While we pasted up his poster, we were seen by a police car. They stopped us, examined our documents, threw the glue in a manhole and confiscated the poster because they liked it. They didn't destroy it; they confiscated it to paste up in the police station because in their opinion, it is a really fun image."

Grazie, 999! For more interesting wheatpastes, check out his Flickr.

Friday ProFile: BR1

Traveling around can break up a slump, but sometimes the best place to work is right under your nose. BR1 (BRuno) roams around, but he admits, "I love the Italian lifestyle and food too much to go live in a foreign city. I love Rome, full of history and monuments, but it's also where you can see the stereotype of Italian people. Turin gives me what I'm looking for from a big city: art and cultural ferments but also underground culture." When he's not studying law, he decorates the city known for FIAT and Nutella.

At first, BR1 began messing around with spray cans, but the medium proved to be too expensive. Since he loved drawing human figures, he gravitated towards stickers and posters. Over time, He developed his trademark Muslim women. He recalls, "First I made printed posters in black and white, then hand-colored posters. At first my pieces were small, but now they get bigger and bigger."
Whether they're shooting photos, talking on a cell phone, or carrying children, these Muslim ladies command respect. "Without women, there isn't life!" BR1 insists. "People start to look at me as a feminist that makes people aware of the Muslim woman's condition, but it's way too misleading. Muslim women are people just as others, with a culture and customs that are often the same, if you account for globalization. I don't want to debate religion and politics through my art; I focus on the woman, the person. I'm an impressionist painter that makes a portrait of a woman with an interesting story."
Police don't always take kindly to the ladies. When the cops show up, he unsticks his posters to avoid conflict. Fortunately, the city of Turin appreciates and respects BR1's work. He remembers, "Some months ago, someone drew on the woman in my poster. Two months later, I saw that someone came and fixed the poster with acrylic paint. They restored my work! This is my ultimate goal."
Rolling out solo makes the creative process easier, but BR1 is all about teamwork, too. "When I have time, I love organizing street art events," he says. "I organized the Turin Poster Festival with more than 100 posters from all over the world. I also put together Vinilificiocreativo with my friend Omino71 from Rome. This show contained vinyl painted by urban artists. The second stage of the show in Rome became the biggest and most popular vinyl show in Italy."
In the future, BR1 hopes to work more color into his pieces. His free magazine on street art is coming along and he hopes to set up a big street art festival in Turin by April 2010. For BR1, it's all about pushing boundaries. "We have the power to change the meaning of public space," he says. "With street art, a wall can become a frame."

Grazi, BR1! For more fabulous photos, visit his Flickr. For folks in the CT area this weekend, stop by ArtSpace in New Haven for the Elm City Pop Fest. (Thanks to the awesome guys over at CT Indie for putting this event together!) Have a great weekend and I'll see you guys on Monday.