the street is our gallery

Famous Serbian artist Artez has created his new work in Belarus together with the Urban Myths initiative. The mural entitled “Precious things” / “Freelance” will become the part of the “Future” triptych in one of the busiest Minsk districts.

Organizers offered artists from three different countries to reflect on modern Belarus through the prism of the images that artists saw themselves in Minsk. Triptych “Future” is a unique project for the city. Three huge murals on the walls of 12-story buildings near the wide road, which is a kind of “gateway of the city” on the west side.

Minsk and Belarus are rapidly changing nowadays. There are more and more young mobile people who work in new high-tech industries. This fast-growing generation of Belarusians has a great influence on the city’s appearance and its development.

It’s worth noticing that traditions and technologies are two things that Artez use rarely as a source of inspiration for his artworks. There is always a challenge when it comes to including “unfamiliar” elements inside the composition without changing the style and recognizable atmosphere of the work. One of the ways to achieve this is to focus on the story instead of focusing on the elements themselves.

A real young woman from Minsk who works as a freelancer in the creative sphere became the prototype for Artez’s mural. For the mural artist had decided to build the story around something that’s quite common in an urban environment – the phenomena of carrying the backpack in front, on your chest, instead of carrying it on the back. Usually, people are doing this in order to reduce the chance of becoming target of pickpockets. This small change in the way people carry their bags became the cornerstone around which the story was built, as all the elements that were part of the backpack instantly became precious because of the special effort that was invested in order to keep them safe. You will see a laptop in the bag, an item that should be associated with technology, and some elements that represent Belarus tradition, like a small straw owl doll, old bus ticket patch or “Vasilok” flower (cornflower) that is holding the attention of woman carrying the bag. Besides these elements, Artez managed to squeeze in something very precious to him personally.

Artez’s work is the first one of the “Future” triptych. There will be information about other project participants soon enough.

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The Urban Myths is an interactive street art project in Belarus, where participating artists create their art works, based on interaction with local people, trying to reflect upon the past and present of the country in their artistic endeavors.