Spanish artist Aryz has created massive public art across the world over the past few years. His style, a blend of pop art and vibrant surrealism, looms over city streets and waterways in recent stops in China, the Netherlands, and Belgium. The piece “Axis,” above, part of the Back to School Project, was created three months ago in Chongqing in southwestern China.
On his blog, the artist says he came up against difficulty in the project: “During all these years, I had pretty much all the problems you can have while painting a wall… What I couldn’t imagine is to have almost all of them together. A good organization is the one that is able to solve any kind of problem… this one succeeded solving at least one problem a day!”
More recently, in his native Spain, Aryz tackled a chapel in Zaragoza, as part of the Festival Asalto. The pieces came with a collaboration with Daniel Muñoz-San. And then, just this past month, he took a surprisingly mechanical turn in his style with “Collapse” in Heerlen, Netherlands. Through these pieces, the artist moves between decidedly subdued palettes, contrasting with a trend of oversaturated, near-neon color schemes of his contemporaries. Even with these choices, each towering piece absorbs.