THE AFTENBLAD WALL
Created in partnership with Stavanger Aftenblad newspaper, The Aftenblad Wall is a newly launched public art initiative that will see invited artists create work on a large-scale billboard in the heart of Stavanger.
A Platform For Public Art
Nuart’s goal is to help redefine how we experience both contemporary and public art: to bring art out of museums, galleries and public institutions onto the city streets, and in some cases, vice versa. The Aftenblad Wall is a progressive and dynamic public art programme with reflection on key issues of public space, advertising and the implications of public art practice at its core.
Nuart has 15 years experience in producing both small and large-scale public artworks, and has witnessed, first hand, how numerous street artists have successfully adopted direct communication strategies to circumnavigate the traditional path into the art world.
Within the ever-evolving movement known as ‘street art’ the act of subverting advertisements (or ‘subvertising’) has long been utilised as a tool for social commentary and protest. By appropriating commercial billboards artists are able to raise awareness about who has the power and authority to communicate messages and create meaning in our urban environment. By mimicking the scale and visibility of advertising, The Aftenblad Wall also acknowledges street art’s heritage of ‘subvertising’.
“Outdoor advertising, through the repetition of commercial images, serves to ingrain and perpetuate conspicuous consumption as the predominant mode of living.” Jordan Seiler, Public Ad Campaign
The Aftenblad Wall is located in Storhaug in Stavanger east – a stones throw from Nuart Festival’s exhibition venue at Tou Scene Centre for Contemporary Art and in the heart of the city’s creative district.
The Aftenblad Wall’s inaugural artist was the Canadian painter Sandra Chevrier, who created her largest artwork to date as part of Nuart Festival’s 15th anniversary. Sandra Chevrier’s installation – as well as the construction and installation of the physical billboard – was co-founded by Nuart and Stavanger Aftenblad newspaper in September 2015.
About the inaugural artist Sandra Chevrier
Sandra Chevrier creates powerful and metaphorically androgynous art using paint and collage techniques. The resulting mixed-media illustrations are strikingly detailed and charged with commentary on modern day gender politics.
Super Hero Cages, a series in which Chevrier’s female subjects are encased in masks of comic book imagery, brought her widespread critical acclaim. These surreal portraits symbolise the daily struggles that women face in meeting societal expectations of beauty and femininity. By resolving the unrealistic expectations of what a woman should or shouldn’t be by enclosing them in a protective shell of superhero imagery, Chevrier alludes to the ‘superhuman’ effort required by women in negotiating the aesthetic demands placed upon them by modern day society.
Sandra Chevrier has exhibited in Canada, USA, Europe and Asia, and her work resides in collections in Canada, USA, Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. She currently lives and works in Montreal, Quebec.
