The grey walls of the Granite City will once again be splashed with colour by a team of artists drawn from across the globe for the fourth year of the highly successful Nuart festival.
The annual celebration of street art has transformed the streets of Aberdeen into a giant open air art gallery since it started in 2017.
From stand-out centrepieces like German artist Herakut’s enormous maritime mural of a girl on the outside of the Aberdeen Indoor Market at the Green, to the “Graffiti Grannies” project where Aberdeen pensioners were trained in the art of spray-painting in Adelphi Lane, Nuart has been hailed for bringing new life to areas of the city which have in some cases been neglected.
Artists from countries including Russia, Canada, Italy, Argentina, Iran and Portugal – as well as Scotland and elsewhere in the UK – are all scheduled to visit Aberdeen for the fourth edition of the festival from Thursday, April 23 to Sunday, April 26.
Included in this year’s list of creatives adorning the walls of Aberdeen will be self-taught Canadian artist Sandra Chevrier, known for creating contemporary pop-art inspired by the “fantastical heroics and iconography of comic books”.
And Marina Zumi from Argentina, who focuses on “equilibrium, interconnectivity and the power of colour” will be bringing her geometric and symmetry-focused designs to the festival.
Nuart Aberdeen is curated and produced by the Stavanger-based arts organisation Nuart and is led by Aberdeen City Council and the business improvement group Aberdeen Inspired.
Adrian Watson, chief executive of Aberdeen Inspired, said: “Nuart Aberdeen captures the imagination of the public in a special way and alongside the Nuart team, we can’t wait to bring it back to the city in April.
“The fourth iteration will continue to build on the successes of the previous three years, when another world-class line-up of artists descend on Aberdeen and share new street art interventions which incorporate and address a wide range of issues, current affairs and history, all for the public to enjoy and interpret.
“Nuart Aberdeen has and continues to be truly transformational for Aberdeen, leaving a permanent legacy behind from which the city, its businesses and its people can benefit.”
Other internationally renowned artists taking part will be Biancoshock, Icy & Sot, Jofre Oliveras, Nuno Viegas, Paul Harfleet, Vladimir Abikh, Jocoba Neipoort and Pejac.
Nuart director and curator Martyn Reed added: “Nuart have been fortunate to have the full support of Aberdeen Inspired.
“From day one they have understood that we were about more than just bread and circus – that we were dedicated to challenging both ourselves and the city by producing works that were not always pretty, but would hopefully have a different type of legacy over time.
“Sometimes the result won’t be a collective ‘ooh’ or ‘wow’ at a colourful mural, but rather a child from Torry making his first stencil, a kid linking his chalk drawing on the pavement to the work in the art gallery or, as we’ve shown previously, senior citizens picking up spray cans and finding a new type of freedom.”
Last year, tens of thousands of people toured the streets of Aberdeen to watch the artists make their mark on the city during the launch weekend.
It is hoped this year’s event will bring similar numbers of visitors to the city centre.
Councillor Marie Boulton, the city council’s culture spokeswoman, said: “Nuart has rapidly established itself as a massive part of Aberdeen’s festival calendar and one of the most eagerly anticipated events in the city, attracting crowds and artists from all over the globe.
“Aberdeen City Council is justly proud of the cultural renaissance taking place across the city in recent years and how the public have responded to our efforts to make the arts accessible to all.
“We are proud to be supporting Nuart, one of the jewels in the crown.”
