the street is our gallery

Here is the first wall painting in Montevideo by Gola Hundun (URUGUAY). The mural concerning the Rio Plata conditions depicts an intensive cultivation explained through a colourful painting.

Its name is Ragioni/Regioni (Reasons/Regions) and it has been painted by Gola Hundun invited by Ottovolante in partnership with Montevideo City Hall.

The wall, located close to the forgotten rail station of the city, has been inspired by Rio Plata and its massive proliferation of cyanobacteria algae into it. In the last few years, water PH and environment balance have been affected by fertilizers and pesticides since Uruguay produces mostly rise and soy cultivation as main sources of exportation. Soy cultivation is on the base of of zootechny industry, but also the main reason of greenhouse effects, global warming and desertification.

Italian artist Gola Hundun takes the opportunity to speak about recent environment disasters through his green tonalities and his stroked signs. In his piece, leaves and phytomorphic elements are interrupted by a fragmented white line that resembles the Uruguay coast profile, seen from a top view.

Therefore, the sea is painted in white, since white is the colour of absence, as the lack of balance which surrounds Rio Plata and the ocean. It takes origins in a soy plant, represented in its silhouette. In the overall composition you can also note some strict lines in black: those lines are the streets of Uruguay and Argentina, heavily concentrated in two points representing the city of Montevideo and Buenos Aires.
Gola Hundun’s green palette has been mixed to the white and black to emphasize respectively the lack of balance in the water ecosystem and the street as a symbol of the humanization of natural landscape.

This artpiece is a way to point out an Uruguayan environmental issue but also a way to inform about a common topic concerning different territories of different parts of the globe.

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

OTTOVOLANTE association based in Bologna based association which build artistic bridge between Emilia Romagna/Italy and Uruguay Argentina
www.associazioneottovolante.com/

CREDITS: Davide Banin