Mars colours Nelson Mandela Square
Graffiti artist Mars collaborates with renowned sculptor Anton Smit to a make-over of Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton.
As a part of the Urban Echoes exhibition hosted by Artyli Gallery on Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton, the graffiti artist known by the brand name ‘Mars’ added his unique flavour to the giant heads sculpted by Anton Smit.
“Anton’s team reached out to me, basically, about a year ago. He was looking for someone to maybe do some heads that he sculpted,” said Mars.
“He’s a very forward-thinking man; the concept for this one was a traditional Passover Easter-islands-inspired heads – and we’re going to give them the Johannesburg urban art makeover, hence the imagery that’s on there – faces of people that are not anyone specific, but could be anyone that you know.”
Mars – whose real name is George – preferred not to share his last name as a means of maintaining anonymity as a graffiti artist.
“When you do graffiti, you have to try to stay anonymous, obviously because it’s illegal in nature,” Mars explained.
“It’s part of the mystery, I guess. It’s the graffiti background.”
According to Mars, what inspires him the most is the world of street art and graffiti – from name-tagging, bold lines, the use of bright colours and the graphic style of application used to highlight subjects and objects in the real world.
“For many, the journey is from skateboarding and street culture to graffiti – the creative ones, anyway.
“You’ll meet someone, and they’ll school you on what’s going on; what the deal is, and show you how to do it. That’s kind of how I started in my teen years.”
Mars studied graphic design and worked in that industry before transitioning into being a full-time graffiti artist.
“I’m very fortunate; I’m very blessed to be in a position to do what I love.
“I worked in the design field for a while, and then I started doing my own thing. I’ve been doing it for about 10 years now.”
On a related note, Artyli is running a competition to win a sculpture from Anton Smit’s Urban Echoes collection valued at R20 000.
“It’s an Anton Smit faith mask. Anton is very well-known for his faith masks; he has been making them for several years in different sizes,” said Artyli’s CEO Karen Cullinan. “It’s also a unique one, there’s only one sculpture like this with the kind of finishes that he’s applied to the surface.”
There are five riddles to solve towards winning the prize from Artyli. Cullinan invites everyone to visit Artyli as the first step to accessing further clues to solving the riddles and winning a sculpture by Anton Smit.
Related article:
https://www.citizen.co.za/sandton-chronicle/328847/these-trending-paint-colours-are-perfect-for-autumn/
https://www.citizen.co.za/sandton-chronicle/141035/know-where-you-are-if-you-see-this-or-identify-your-surroundings-by-the-graffiti/
