Blu
Blu started painting walls around his native Bologna in 2000. Inspired by graffiti culture, he developed his signature style, which was much more figurative than the work he had seen on the streets of Italy. Blu’s inspiration stems from “a need of creating that is otherwise stifled by domestic walls; from the sheer pleasure of transforming ordinary and decaying places, showing how creativity may redevelop from urban degradation.” Originating as sketches made in his notebook, Blu fleshes out his initial ideas first on paper. The second phase of his work is the fusion of his ideas with the location; allowing his ideas to react to the surrounding environment and architecture. His pieces often cover entire sides of buildings, which he paints using brushes mounted on long sticks, or simply standing on a friend’s shoulders. Blu has painted walls in Italy, Spain, Germany, Brazil and England. In the fall of 2006, Blu, filmmaker Lorenzo Fonda and two friends documented an unscripted trip across South and Central America entitled “Megunica”. Painting murals and making friends along the way, the group traveled through Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Argentina. As a fan of Blu’s work, Fonda conceived the idea with the intention of exploring how such different cultures and lifestyles would influence and inspire Blu’s art. The project is set to be released in late Fall of 2007 as a package including a DVD of the documentary as well as a book which will include travel photos, wall pieces and a reproduction of an illustrated travel diary.
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