An Athenian “neo-muralist” is mixing Greek mythology and Byzantine iconography with graffiti and road artwork to depict how the coronavirus has compelled individuals the planet over to put down roots.

From Bangkok to Rabat and Zurich, Fikos has painted the walls of many metropolitan areas, but he is now adding a splash of color to the sun-beaten facades of the Cypriot cash Nicosia.

“Here in Cyprus there are not a lot of murals however,” he says. “It really is the starting phase of the road artwork scene in Cyprus, so… they are impressed and kind of awed when they see this occurring.”
Greek artist Fikos, who describes himself as a “neo-muralist”, performs on 1 of his murals in the Cypriot funds Nicosia on June 04, 2021. An Athenian “neo-muralist” is mixing Greek mythology and Byzantine iconography with graffiti and avenue art to depict how the coronavirus has pressured people today the earth more than to set down roots.
(AFP/David Vujanovic)

The 33-year-previous spends time wandering the slim again alleys of Nicosia’s Aged City in search of walls to use as a canvas.

The just one he selected for his latest project is the cracked veneer of a crumbling mud-brick property in an abandoned, dusty large amount in the vicinity of the UN-patrolled buffer zone that divides the city’s Greek and Turkish-speaking halves.

The Greek artist, who describes himself as a “neo-muralist”, claims he has been living on the Mediterranean island for the previous calendar year amid the Covid-19 pandemic, a theme mirrored in his most recent piece.

Standing on a wobbly system, he will get to do the job with a brushstroke alongside the brow of Amaracus, the perfume-maker of the legendary goddess Aphrodite, whose fate he claims befits lifestyle in the time of the coronavirus.

Little bit by bit, a sketch evolves into a jade-eco-friendly male determine with leaves sprouting from his head, branches protruding from his chest and roots extending from his legs.

“He obtained punished by the gods and got turned into a plant or flower,” says Fikos, who explains that he made use of the tale from Cypriot mythology as an analogy for the pandemic, throughout which folks “have developed roots” by being in one particular place for so lengthy.
Fikos claims Cypriots have taken to his artwork, not like other people who are inclined to attach to it the stigma of graffiti.

His is effective now adorn five facades on the Greek-Cypriot facet of Nicosia, which has been divided on ethnic lines since communal unrest erupted in 1963-4.

Fikos suggests he attracts from a diversified palette of influences, from art in historical Greece to Egypt and Japan. 1 these types of artwork is positioned around the Environmentally friendly Line that divides Nicosia.

It displays King Onassagoras, who ruled the kingdom of Ledra close to 672 BC, following to three woman figures — one particular of them Nicosia, depicted as a lady break up in fifty percent.

“I researched Byzantine portray since I was 13 many years old in Athens, and I studied the artwork of the street in the streets,” states Fikos.

“Street artwork has developed from graffiti and it has various policies. You need to go away your stamp,” he claims.
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“But my place of perspective is completely distinctive. I am always trying to adapt my sketch to the ecosystem and get motivated from the colours of the neighbourhood. My tactic is additional like great art, I would say.”
Fikos suggests in the earlier he was unable to convince Athenians to allow him paint in excess of the garish graffiti that blankets the metropolis, even for free.

But now his appeal is increasing the two at dwelling and overseas, and he will get paid for his perform.

Fikos suggests he has been commissioned to paint murals in lots of international locations, like France, Ireland, Mexico, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine.

They can deal with full facades of buildings as high as 17 storeys, like a person in Kiev, yet they usually are not overbearing and don’t search out of put.

“Most of the time they have some thing in head, they give me a topic,” Fikos says of his commissions.

“But… I do my exploration on heritage, mythology or whichever I come across suitable, then I sketch and I start out to paint.”

After the investigation is carried out, the process of painting the murals can take just two or a few much more days, he says.

“I’m mainly encouraged by Greek mythology, since I have faith in that if these myths have survived, they have to have a little something to say.”