the street is our gallery

The Path by Gola Hundun has been inspired by Enrico and Salvatore, two young boys from Naples who took part to the Xenia workshops. The Italian painter and visual artist, chose the sketch among many others because of its inner meaning, which seemed very close to Gola’s research. The path is represented as a thin red line, as the pathway every man should walk to reach the Knowledge shown as a golden mountain. Beside each single man there’s nature, seen as an obstacle, but is actually part of himself. A rich variety of vegetation dominates the lower part of the wall, creating a multi-layer prospective effect.

What is very interesting is also the chromatic scale and the way the artist uses it: simple, elementary colors, to let the pure shape of the elements to come out on a very neutral background. Gold means divine value of the nature and so the mountain becomes a golden idol in the middle of the jungle of life. The contrast between the golden mountain and the cold tones of the leaves emphazises the allegorical message beyond it.

You can notice the same contrast is also coherent in the shapes used by the artist: pure for the mountain, reach of details for vegetale elements. The last step of Gola’s research focus’ on simple colors and shapes in order to a obtain a better visual relationship between the artpiece and its urban context. It is easy to read an unconscious reference to the “Vesuvio” which dominates the territory. It is less easy to sensitize people to the respect of the Nature in a place mostly tapped in the last few decades.

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/

CREDITS: Johanna Invrea | Vincenzo Capasso