Photo: Jose Delou
Spanish artist Sebas Velasco is known for his incredible portraits, which combine Old World sensibilities with the urban landscape. Most recently, Velasco brought his talents to southeast London for the London Mural Festival. Painted in Brixton, his large-scale mural shows a local resident with a train passing behind him.
The best street art always speaks to its environment, and Velasco takes this philosophy to heart in A Lasting Place. A behind-the-scenes video shows the photo shoot by the artist’s longtime collaborator, Jose Delou, that led to the artwork, with other still images showing how Velasco uses details of the photograph to create his painterly portraits.
“I have always been very interested in social architecture, but I had no idea that Brixton was so rich in it,” he says in a statement given to the festival. “The wall, like the neighborhood and the sitter, had so much character, and I was grateful for the creative freedom to properly explore this.”
Like his recent work in Texas for the Beaumont Mural Festival, the piece takes place at night with the warm glow of urban lights contrasting with the dark sky. The young man depicted looks off to the side, lost in his own thoughts. It’s a composition that draws the viewer in and is, at the same time, familiar to anything whose mind wanders while waiting for the train to arrive.
Velasco’s masterful painting balances the composition. His loose brushstrokes bring the subject to life and create a realistic figure that isn’t overworked. His piece is one of several new art pieces going up across the city for the London Mural Festival. Twenty different artists will make their marks on the city, including eL Seed, Rosie Woods, and Betz of Etam Cru.
Follow Sebas Velasco to see more of this work and see more from the London Mural Festival over on Instagram.
Spanish artist Sebas Velasco painted a new mural in Brixton for the London Mural Festival.
Photo: Louis Thornton
Titled A Lasting Place, it depicts a local resident in front of Brixton’s train line at night.
Photo: Global Street Art
Velasco immerses himself in the environment where he paints, with his collaborator Jose Delou taking a portrait that he then transforms into a mural.
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This is the artist’s first mural in London.
Photo: Global Street Art