Off the wall: Durban artist brings splash of colour to murals

EVERY second month, we will bring you a feature where we will interview artists and promote street art in and around Durban.

Street art is a form of creative expression found on walls, substations and even high-rise buildings. It is found all across the province, and this month, we feature artist Brendan Lyle, better known on the street-art scene as Uno Bear.

1. When did you first share your artwork in a public space?

“I started painting in 2013, on canvas, and in the beginning, I was so bad. I did manage to sell some canvases for the first time at a pop-up shop in 2016. The year after, I did my first mural at a Strength Club.”

2. Do you work with a sketch-in-hand or do you do it freehand?

“I sketch my pieces, then usually ‘freehand’ the drawing. I can’t be bothered with projectors or stencils. I like to feel the piece and let it flow without restrictions. Which most often means my pieces end up much bigger and way more detailed than planned. In everything I paint, I put maximum effort, and I never rush it. Quality over speed.”

3. What do you see as the artist’s role in society?

“I would say an artist’s role in the community is to bring light and imagination to show people another view, different to the norm. I don’t believe artists are here to push political or other ideas but rather to add beauty and highlight what we love about life – to bring colour into dull places; to expand the public’s mind and let them peek into the limitless vistas of our imagination. I think most artists get lost in the sheer vastness of our minds, and we work to show people the chaos of colour in our minds.”

4. How do you define your style?

“My style is not defined as yet because I am still exploring, and I just love new things and new challenges. I started off with pure pop art with a strong desire to move more toward high-detail graphic-novel style, which has always taken my breath away. Graffiti can be done very well in this style with vibrant high contrast dominating the space. But then, I also like to try anything that I thought I could never do. Three months ago, I never thought I could spraypaint a portrait, but I managed to impress myself with my portrait of Prince Steez. Which was my third attempt at portraits. I’m currently working on a landscape which should be super fun but a daunting undertaking.”

5. What’s your favourite artwork?

“My favourite artwork is always my current piece because I always try to push towards new levels, and that means my next piece has to be better than its precursor. I love how the Prince Steez portrait turned out, but I also really love how Jay Cutler turned out as he was always a hero of mine, so it was very special to me to analyse his finer details and try to re-create him on a massive wall.”

6. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

“The best piece of advice I’ve been given is ‘know your worth’.”

7. Besides Durban, where else can people view your art?

“Mainly across Durban. I’ve done a tiny piece in Cape Town, but it was rushed and not so cool.”

8. What is the reaction of people to your work?

“The reaction of people is funny because at the start, I block in all the basic shapes and go a bit mad with crazy brushstrokes or crazy spraypaint strokes. So people often give me weird looks that say ‘Wow, you don’t really know what your doing’, then I doubt a little. But at the finish, most people say they never expected it to be so good. When I do pieces on gym walls, which I love, they always add so much depth to the places, and I feel they bring in some human warmth and just make the eyes happy.”

To view more of his murals and projects, follow Uno Bear on Instagram.

ENDS