ANBI
1023
Artwork
Street Art piece
Fertility
Street Art Museum Amsterdam
Author:
Skount
Artist Bio:
Skount (Raúl Garcia Pereira, Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, 1985), currently based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Inspired by the classical Spanish theatre of Almagro (Town where he spent his childhood), Skount’s oneiric masked characters beckon the viewer from the urban environment into their mysterious and playful dreamscapes. The great playwrights of Skount’s youth formed a lasting impression, where he regards life as a wonderful play, in which everyone has a role. Driven by the fundamental desire to free his own mind, Skount’s creativity knows no bounds. With a background in Streetart, his artistic expression spans paint, paper, music and performance, to video art, sculpture, and installation. Yet Skount always comes back to masks. Humans the world over, have used masks since ancient times for sacred rituals, as ornamentation, and in performances and theatre. The mask disguises the identity of its wearer, and symbolizes the need to hide or repress a person’s desires, fears and concerns. Skount observes that everybody carries a mask, with it we conceal our identity and adopt a more socially acceptable image to get by day to day. But we can also choose the moments and people with whom we can reveal our true nature, and take off our masks.
Place:
Struikbuurt
Date:
Technique:
brush
Material:
Brick
Acquisition:
Commission
Completed:
2012
Condition:
Gone / Illegible
Physical Description:
The work is a clear example of Skount's unique style that encompasses various influences. The first and most important is undoubtedly the masked tradition of the Theatre of Almagro, where the artist comes from; but also South American muralism and the Mexican painting tradition. Skount's works play with the aesthetics and composition of Ibero-American art, adding a unique character based on cartooning and bright colours. Particular attention is paid to the detailed elements of the mask, the scarf and the pomegranate in the painting.
Iconography:
The work is an allegory on the theme of fertility inspired in Greek mythology. The masked figure, whose aesthetics are inspired by the mask tradition of the theatre of Almagro, where Skount is from, represents the goddess Aphaea. Several iconographic elements refer to the theme of fertility, above all the pomegranate holding the goddess with the right hand.
Gallery
