The Mural de Oze Arv in Graça is part of the exceptional set of street art manifestations that appeared during the year 2021. The Graça neighborhood distinguished itself in this aspect and every month something new appeared in this form of artistic expression. In particular, I had the privilege of witnessing the birth of the Oze Arv mural.
Oze Arv is the artistic name of José Carvalho (1980), an artist based in Lisbon and one of the emerging names in street art today.
This work can be appreciated at Rua Natália Correia in Graça. You can see it from tram 28, as it passes through Rua da Graça, but you have to be careful and sit on the right side of the tram. It would be even better to visit this work on foot, so that you can enjoy it properly and even better if you combine it with a visit to Senhora do Monte or the joint work of Fairey/Vhils.
A job of this dimension is not done overnight. In particular, this work, which the author called “Fado Tropical in RGB tones”, took a month to produce. The artist had the support of a crane and an operator, in authentic teamwork of precision and method. For three-quarters of this time only strange marks appeared on the wall, full of meaning for the artist, but completely unintelligible to passersby. When Oze Arv finally began to fill in with color, the magnificent work appeared that we can enjoy today.
The during and after the execution of the work. Despite the meticulous way in which the work is planned, you can see that the color filling phase does not follow the sketch 100%, leaving the artist the freedom to correct the sketch as dictated by the inspiration of the moment and the the way the final work appears to your eyes.
The last photograph gives a detail of the single bird that is presented with a realistic plumage, all the others having a stylized plumage.