Interview: Portuguese street artist swaps spray cans for creations

Portuguese street artist Alexandre Farto, who was recently named one of the World's Most Important Young Entrepreneurs by American magazine Forbes, is surprisingly down-to-earth.

His recent exhibition at the Electricity Museum in Portuguese capital Lisbon was visited by more than 65,000 people in three months and he recently directed a music video for Irish rock band U2.

"The biggest museum for me is the street," the 29-year-old said, adding "and that's where I feel most comfortable."

Alexander, known by the tag name Vhils, grew up in the southern suburbs of Lisbon. He said his early memories took him back to the remains of the political murals that emerged soon after the military coup in 1974.

"At the end of the 1980s, the walls were still there. They were in ruins and reflected the ideal of utopia, anarchists and artists that worked on them. Those are my first memories of the street," he said.

Vhils said he was inspired by the confrontation between two opposed realities.

"Publicity started taking over the public space, but in the 1990s, graffiti covered those billboards and the council started painting over them. That overlapping of layers was a reflection of the changes the country was going through."

"And I started to think: why shouldn't I drill away the layers and reflect on that process? That gave way to the concept of turning the invisible visible, of exposing the entrails of a building."

Though Vhils started off with graffiti, he gradually felt a desire to explore new techniques. Bored of spray cans, he started experimenting with stencils and stickers, which he said weren't so popular at the time, until he got to this more daring stage, of "destroying, to create."

He gained prominence with his ground-breaking, carved portraits of everyday people, which involve chipping and cutting away at walls. His works were displayed at the Cans Festival, and curated in London by the elusive British street artist Banksy in 2008.

"The portraits started with anonymous people and their daily struggle to survive in their city," Vhils said. "I reflected on how these layers that overlap in the city affect the way people are and how those people affect the area they live in."

He took his portraits to several cities around the world, including Rio de Janeiro, where he found that the government was enforcing an urban renewal scheme in the run-up to the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Olympic games.

"I started speaking to local people, taking their pictures and carving their portraits onto what remained of their homes after they were pulled down," he said.

"The project proved the impact that art can have to intervene, and how it can give a voice to communities who otherwise have difficulties communicating with institutions."

Vhils' career exploded, literally, when he started inserting power charges in the walls of abandoned buildings, a "reflection" he said was fruit of the financial crisis.

"It (the crisis) made me think it's about how history repeats itself, how a small spark brings the layers up," he explained.

Vhils used this technique in a music video he directed for Portuguese hip-hop band Orelha Negra in 2012. He described it as his most "ephemeral" method, since it has to be filmed in slow motion to be able to show the process.

Vhils' work is empowered by a dedicated team of around eight people, who he said were mostly friends and people familiar with the urban art scene, and who helped with tasks like logistics, organization and management.

He sounded proud when he said that despite living in London for several years and having travelled extensively, he chose to be based in Lisbon because he wants to contribute to the cultural scene in hometown.

Recently, Vhils and other artists set up a pop-up art store, in what looks like a giant cage. The main focus of the store is on artist editions and print screens, which are sold at prices of between 100 and 300 euros.

He also directs the Underdogs gallery in Lisbon, which holds exhibitions and promotes artistic interventions in public space. In 2014, it enabled both local and international artists to create six works of art around the city.

Vhils said he would like the Portuguese government to look at street art and culture in a different way. "There is this stigma that art doesn't generate much economically, but I think it draws attention to the country on an international level. There are people who come to Lisbon mainly just to see the art." (1 euro = 1.14 U.S. dollar) Enditem