Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Diving into the Mind-Bending Murals of Astro

French artist Astro takes flat urban surfaces and creates passageways into the void. Using shadows and light, calligraphy-inspired designs and winding curves, the artist’s optical illusions are made for public consumption. And even when they’re not so obvious to some passers-by and cars on a quick route to work, Astro has many of us looking at the big picture.

French artist Astro takes flat urban surfaces and creates passageways into the void. Using shadows and light, calligraphy-inspired designs and winding curves, the artist’s optical illusions are made for public consumption. And even when they’re not so obvious to some passers-by and cars on a quick route to work, Astro has many of us looking at the big picture.





In Portugal, Astro’s mural offers an entry point into the darkness, just feet away from the viewer. Elsewhere, traffic travels alongside an endless abyss without even knowing it. These works range from a scalable wall to the side of a towering residential complex. All offer a chance for anyone to travel outside reality, if only for the second it takes to capture the moment. Astro cites the work of Hans Hartung, Victor Vasarely, and Alphonse Mucha as major influences.




Astro is also one-half of the duo behind the CelloGraff, which implements cellophane as a disposable wall to tag without fear of the authorities. He developed the technique with fellow street artist Kanos.

The artist also takes his craft indoors, with the occasional work on canvas. Even these works retain the mind-bending quality of his public art projects. Follow all of the artist’s work on Instagram.

Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
Annapolis based multimedia artist Jeff Huntington make connections between seemingly opposing images using patterns and emotion. It was his father, the subject of his painting series "Plaques and Tangles" (2010), who first introduced him to oil painting at the age of eight. That particular series was a turning point in the artist's career, when multiple perspectives began creeping into his works. Since then, Huntington has made increasingly layered portrayals of the human condition.
A few weeks ago, we gave readers a small taste of the many, enormous murals that went up at We AArt Festival in Aalborg, Denmark (see our coverage of Aryz, Escif and Kenor's walls here). The festival was envisioned as a way to bring more public art to the mid-sized city and featured international artists with a penchant for large-scale work that Hi-Fructose readers will recognize. Interesni Kazki, a duo from Ukraine known for their storybook-like murals, split up and tackled two separate walls. Puerto Rican artist Alexis Diaz typically draws inspiration from the natural world for his depictions of hybridized creatures. His piece for We AArt depicts a skeletal horse encased in an armor of tree branches with an ink-like technique atypical of outdoor work. Other artists included Jaz, Liqen, Don John and Fintan Magee. Check out photos of the murals below.
Peruvian artist Jade Rivera pays homage to the locals of his native Lima and other cities he visits in his travels with large-scale murals, watercolors, and oil paintings. His work typically starts with a realistically rendered human figure. Rivera adds surreal details by smudging the colors and adding ghostly silhouettes. He is particularly interested in the connection between humans and animals. Depicted in masks or as apparitions, the creatures in his work seem to function as spirit guides for the people he paints.
A riot cop covered in flames in the middle of the street, Claude Monet's poppies swallowed by a hole in the sky, and a large ship tearing up the Earth's surface, leaving a bloody scar behind it- these are images Pejac recently shared on his Facebook page, where he just announced his highly anticipated solo exhibition in London. Known primarily for his striking "public interventions", works that cleverly mix illusion and reality, fantasy and familiarity featured here, the Barcelona based street artist is once again moving his work from the public arena and into the gallery.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List