Feeling nostalgic today, 90′s letters in technicolor for a cloudy day.
My friend Ramy, from INGcreatives is a stubborn guy.
He sees this wall everyday from his apartment and from his office too.
Ramy’s been trying to get this wall painted by an artist for over a year, and he didn’t stop until he finally got it.
I’m happy that I was the artist he had in mind once he got the permission, I’ve seen no walls like this before in Dubai, it was quite a exciting project.
We wanted to keep it all independent since the beginning, no branding, no events, no posing. Just art in a wall, but we needed some support.
INGcreatives managed to get it all organized and they even created a casual venue where people stopped by to see the progress of the wall, to chill with us and get some information about the project. Concordia, the company who runs the area, provided a cherry picker and some dirhams to buy the paint and Sam gave us a good price on the spray paint.
Everybody did their best to support this project expecting nothing in exchange. Thank you all. And then I just provided my work.
So yeah, this has been a project free of charge, just for the community. I hope you enjoy it.
photo credits to Diego and Ramy
Dissection of Tozudez.
Acrylic on reclaimed materials. 180x120cm.
2014
When the whole electronic world will collapse, paper and photographs will be our only memories.
Next Monday Aug 10th I will be doing a workshop of ‘creative diaries’ in Tashkeel Studio, Dubai. Journeys, experiences and art through a notebook.
Yallah come.
Bryan Gavigan just finished this nice video explaining what Tashkeel is and how it is contributing to the growth of the skateboarding and art scene in Dubai. Muy bien chulo!
We came across this family while looking for walls in the Syrian border, close to Za'atari refugee camp.
I totally fell in love with them, they didn’t stop joking and laughing their ass off for a second, so we decided to spend the day with them. We played a lot, we had tea and coffee and also we painted their half-destroyed house with the help of the kids.
Friendship has no landmarks.
Ajloon is a beautiful beige city in the north of Jordan, not too far from the Syrian border. There’s plastic bags and garbage everywhere, like in the rest of Jordan, but it’s nice.
Sometimes there’s beef between Jordanians and Syrians, but they generally get along with each other, building strong and interesting links. After seeing a few of this relationships, and also mines with Jordanians, Syrians and worldwide people during this trip I came out with this design. Khalas.
A good day at the park.
Collaboration with El Seed and 400 more other people who joined our workshop at The Archive Dubai.
One more public art piece in Dubai, oh yeah.
Photos by Elmer Magallanes
First look at my show The B Side in Tashkeel, Dubai.
We are ready for the party!
Opening of The B Side, my first international solo-show in Tashkeel, Dubai.
Thank you all for stopping by, that was just sick!!
The day has come!
Can’t wait to show you all my work during this past year in Dubai.
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November 14th 7-10pm in Tashkeel. Hope to see you all!
Mission accomplished.
One of my goals during my year of residency in Tashkeel was to paint a mural in the streets of Dubai.
In any other country, everything probably would have been easier but here graffiti or street art or whatever is heavily punished, actually I think this is the first and only mural that exists in the UAE (someone correct me if I’m wrong).
The process has not been easy. Since consequences of being busted painting here are no joke (and you need more than 10 minutes to paint this, set up a cherry picker, etc) you need a permission.
So after locating the spot by Jumeirah Beach Road (Anna!) we had to talk with the owner of the building, who luckily was open for the project since the first moment. Then with his ok, the Tashkeel crew were struggling with Dubai authorities day by day until we finally got their OK a few months later.
Keeping in mind that sedentary lifestyle is a big issue in this city, as well as the crazy unsustainability that involves most of its massive projects, I wanted this artwork, a local guy riding a bicicamel instead of a polluting car, while eating some healthy stuff, to be a wake up call for simplicity and sustainability to all the people living here (applicable to hundreds of other countries). I’m not really expecting any change with this, but that’s the message.
After spending the whole night painting this, I passed by the next day to take some photos and to speak with the neighbors about it (mostly shops and cafeterias). They look excited about it, even though they were kind of reluctant when they saw me painting the first lines. Late night visitors after closing their stores were also rewarded for their support with a quick lift in the cherry picker or with a few shots of spray on his guetto car to hide some scratches.
Now I’m getting free haircuts and lemon-mints on the area.
Big ups to Tashkeel: Bakhita, Haiya and Lateefa. Thanks for your company Jill, Sameena, Khaled and neighbors.
For your information, this is a personal project. There’s no brands nor any kind of payment related to this wall (or any others). Hope you like it Dubai peeps and i hope this will open doors for more public art projects.
Peace out!
R.
Got some new fresh prints out of Tashkeel’s kitchen: “Al lío”. Edition of 20 screenprints, 2 colors, 64x90cm. Signed and numbered.
Drop me a line if you’re interested
You don’t have this kind of visits every day… Half man-half bird-full legend, Mr. Tony Hawk
Red + Black + Tashkeel + a clean white wall + Estevan Oriol + guys skating around + David Choe + Dubai + myself + freestyle + a broken light
= amazing evening.
Canopi bowl, located in Tashkeel (Dubai) is the best shit ever.
I’m so lucky to be able to skate this "skate oasis" everyday. Even though transitions and ramps is not my thing I enjoy as a little kid riding this.
I tried to symbolize the ramp when designing the logo, inspired on its shapes and colors, and the trees that surround it.
Then I applied it in different ways on recycled wood to keep its organic and natural look. Viva Canopi siempre!
Al Bastakiya is one of the oldest residential areas in the city of Dubai.The locality lies along Dubai Creek and its unique architecture includes narrow lanes and wind towers, as well as the Al Fahidi Fort, the oldest existing building in Dubai.
I painted this guy in one of its amazing corners, chilling like they used to do 100 years back, when Bastakiya was the residence for expatriate families.
Mix of geometrical colorful patterns and black & white freehand stylo.
Yupppp! About to paint a Nayla Romanos’ handmade sculpture for Dubai’s Sikka Art Fair 2013. So excited about this collab!
It will be shown at Tashkeel Bastakiya from March 14th Inshallah!
The Mission of the Minotaur is about the skateboarding seed that is growing up in Dubai through the effort of a bunch of people in Tashkeel, mainly Lateefa and Brad, the guy who sees this wall everyday now.
Understanding islamic geometric patterns at The Archive.
Research for my next project with Tashkeel out in the streets yo!