I recently got a few images of ETNIK‘s last mural painted in Mantua, Italy for the Without Frontiers festival that this year has been hosting artists like ETNIK, Elbi Elem, Corn79, Etnik, Panem et Circenses, Fabio Petani, Made 514 and  Zedz. The event is curated by Simona Gavioli and Giulia Giliberti.
Titled  “The Popler” the new mural depicts a personal and abstracted interpretation of a cottonwood tree, an important element for the city and its economy in the past. In ETNIK’s mural the tree is depicted detached and isolated from the ground, floating in the middle of the composition, but still surrounded by architectonic elements, geometric shapes representing the neighbouring landscape.
As usual, an interesting mix of architecture, graffiti and illustration, where structures and perspectives of a deconstructed urban environment are juxtaposed and resembled again in order to express its essence.
Images by Livio Ninni

About the artist

Born in 1972 in Stockholm, Sweden, he currently lives and works in Florence, Italy. ETNIK became part of the graffiti scene in the early 1990s, since then his production has undergone countless evolutions reaching his current aesthetics characterised by the representation of the urban landscape as abstract agglomerations that evolve into 3D representations and peculiar constructions.
In 2009 ETNIK founded with Duke1 the group Bunker108, which currently cooperates with public administrations to organise numerous kinds of artistic events. In 2013 he exhibited his work at the MUBE in Sao Paulo (Brazil), which was followed by shows in Paris, Düsseldorf, Turin, San Francisco, Nice, Chicago, Monaco.


More about Etnik on facebook | instagram | website

Author: Fran

Founder and editor of Urbanite. Street Art lover who after the finishing her MA thesis on the Mexican and Norwegian muralist movement in the 1920-50s, developed a fascination for street art and graffiti that eventually led to collaborations with different art blogs, including the creation of this one.

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