the street is our gallery

An artwork to give a brand new identity to the district of Morandi Bridge, Gola Hundun takes part in “On the wall” in the Certosa district.

The new mural by Gola Hundun is titled “THE ANCIENT WAY OF THE NEW CIRCLE”, recently made in Genoa taking part in the “On the Wall” project, curated by Genoa City Hall and Linkinart.

The piece is part of a bigger system of murals, painted by ten international urban artists, aiming to give a new identity to the Certosa district – sadly famous for being the block involved in the Morandi Bridge tragedy.

Amongst the others, Gola’s intervention with The Ancient Way of The New Circle invites people to go back to a circular system, which is peculiar in Nature, that includes a following stop of an anthropocentric approach – which brings more and more negative consequences to humanity itself.

The main character of the wall is Cernunnos – a mythological creature belonging to the Celtic culture, a symbol of fertility, abundance, manhood and wild nature – painted in the lower part of the wall, highly visible by pedestrians.

In the upper part, you can see a golden mountain, which represents a symbolic destination, the dream of a reached balance of the world.

Although based on a vertical structure, even more emphasized by the mountain and the tree of life, the artwork should be read according to a circular scheme: from the bottom till the top and back, following its own circularity.

In the composition you can easily recognize phytomorphic elements as Gola use to do in his pieces. Also adding some three-dimensional elements (see tree of life) is a usual occurrence in Gola’s poetry.

The colours are vibrant, bright and full. Gradients are essential. Thanks to the blues and greens in their cold tones, Gola’s artwork excels over the red and yellow buildings of its surrounding, pointing out the supremacy of nature over the human utilitarian system.

GOLA HUNDUN (1982, Cesena, Italy) Lives and works in Rimini. Gola Hundun’s work shows the relationship between human beings and the biosphere. This consideration combined with the conscious decision to live as a vegetarian since the age of 16, positions the artist and his work closer to both the animal and human spheres. He explores themes such as interspecies communication, shamanism, ecology, a return to the earth, vegetarianism and spirituality. Gola’s first foray into the world of art began with a classical artistic training at Ravenna’s High School of Arts in Italy. At the early age of 12 he took his first steps related to Street Art by doing traditional graffiti lettering styles, but at the age of 14 he returned home to create his first illustrations and paintings. Gola Hundun continued his studies at Bologna’s Academy where he got a degree in Fine Arts. In 2004 he moved to Barcelona, where he is still living and working. In Barcelona, his work has been influenced by the local graffiti scene giving him inspiration to bring his creations back to the street walls.

The late 2000’s marked a period of growing and sporadic activity while he traveled between Italy, Spain and around Europe. In 2010 he spent a residency semester in Quebec (Canada), where on a global scale his artistic career began. From the completion of his art residency in 2010 until present day, his work has allowed him to visit many countries around the world with collective and solo shows including places such as Sao Paulo, Brazil (2011), Jenin, Palestine (2011), Moscow, Russia (2012), Tokyo, Japan (2012), Almaty, Kazakhstan (2013), Miami, USA (2014/15), San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic (2016), San Francisco, USA (2017), Australia (2018). The universe he creates always has an allegoric interpretation and is enhanced by many influences such as post human culture, sacred art, zoology, biology, psychedelic art and by the many cultures he has experienced and is still discovering during his travels around the world. Besides his work as a painter, Gola Hundun also creates public installations incorporating living plants, electronics, woods, music and live performances.

www.golahundun.com/works/   / www.facebook.com/golahundun   / www.instagram.com/golahundun/

ON THE WALL  is a project by Genoa City Hall in partnership with Linkinart, with the aim of changing the output of a part of the city marked by Morandi Bridge fall down. A collective path towards the potentiality of Certosa district.

www.comune.genova.it  /   www.linkinart.wordpress.com  / www.facebook.com/walktheline / @wtlgenova

FOTO CREDITS: MATTEO FONTANA, LUCA BRIGANTI