Southapedia Mural Festival (SMF), recently held in Durban, is a collaborative initiative between artists and building owners to create site-specific murals that celebrate South African culture.

We caught up with travelling artist Resoborg, who developed the Southapedia Mural Programme, to chat about the specific themes for each mural, why creating better opportunities for artists is imperative for the growth of the South African art scene, and why it’s important for local youth to be exposed to art not usually presented in mainstream educational institutions.

Which mural projects across the globe inspired you to develop Southapedia Mural Festival?

I have had the opportunity to work on a number of international mural projects, but last year I was really inspired by what I had experienced with Staufferstadt Arts. Based in a small town in Virginia, this small art organisation brings contemporary urban art to the town while providing a generous stipend to support the participating artists. It’s really great to be valued as an artist, to be given the opportunity to paint and be paid for it. That fact, along with the team’s deep desire to bring more art to the town, inspired me to want do something similar back home.

Tell us a bit about the lack of funding and opportunities for local artists, especially those in Durban, and how SMF uplifts those artists.

Because there are so many larger issues facing South Africa, funding for the arts is simply not a priority. There are some options, but it is just not an easy process to work through. SMF was created to give invited artists the opportunity to work on a site-specific mural that relates to the area and the building, get paid decently and have a high-quality video that they can use to promote their work. The videos of each artists’ work in particular will certainly open doors for bigger projects from them in the future. SMF also opens up the opportunity to do community workshops, which we did two of with a local NGO called Surfers Not Street Children.

Discuss SMF’s theme: the celebration of local culture across past, present and future.

Street art is not as prevalent in Durban as it is in other cities so it was a process of figuring out what the building owners would allow to be painted, as well as what the sponsors wanted. Ultimately, we decided to have a less-is-more approach in terms of making sure all involved were paid well, as opposed to making it bigger and asking artists to paint for “exposure”.

Mook Lion’s mural Workshop, Wheel, Point depicts the first train ever built in South Africa; it used to run directly past the building where the mural is located. My collaboration with Gabriel Katsande and Blessing Samukele, titled Back To The Future, was largely sponsored by Innovate Durban, a company that aims at stimulating digital innovation in the KZN region. They wanted the muralists to create something that was inspirational, a nod toward innovation.

Lastly the collaboration with Paul Senyol and Conform from Cape Town (our two invited artists from outside of KZN) titled Transitional Architexture was inspired by the many historical buildings found in the area. All the murals are within walking distance and near the Point Harbour, which has lots of history.

Elaborate on the creative process behind each mural.

The physical train that Mook painted stands at Durban Station and he looked at bringing contemporary living conditions into the mural as well. Instead of having a train conductor pictured, Mook incorporated a taxi driver that is pictured signalling the taxi route “Workshop, Wheel, Point!”. The train also runs very close to the sea and so it was fitting to include an ocean element with the historic bluff area into the artwork as well.

My mural faces the city’s CBD and considers the location where people would be going when travelling past the mural. The idea was to create something that plays on the idea of what a future Durban could look like.

Resoborg

Paul Senyol and Conform researched various photographic references of buildings in the area, as well as images of local workers that they wanted to include into the mural, therefore being a celebration of both past and the present.

What’s next on the cards for you with regards to SMF and your own personal work?

Subject to funding that we may receive, we will continue SMF next year and continue to give other artists opportunities to be involved. There are a number of mural and illustration projects that are coming up, but I am really excited about going to Kenya in early 2020 to paint a couple of murals for an NGO called One Acre Fund.

What drives your creatively?

There is so much negativity in the world and so many things that can make me depressed or sad. The reason I try do these types of projects, and with lots of colour, is to try and do something that hopefully uplifts others and impacts communities.

What is your advice for up-and-coming artists in South Africa?

I think it’s important, if you want to be an artist, to do it because you enjoy it and not because of how many followers you can get or what social status you can achieve. Be patient and enjoy the journey and process of developing your own unique style and voice. It’s so important to develop a unique visual narrative within your work.

Stay in the loop by following Southapedia on Instagram (@southapedia) and see what Resoborg created in Virginia, here.

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Durban-based artist, illustrator and graphic designer Wesley van Eeden, aka Resoborg, has completed a new mural in KwaMashu, just outside Durban.

Freedom Park, a community upliftment project, is the first in a potential series of projects planned for KwaMashu. The project has provided free sports facilities for the neighbourhood to use, including a basketball court, netball and tennis court, a soccer field, an outdoor gym, ablution facilities and a table tennis area.

Resoborg was commissioned to create a bright 3D mural on two containers that house ablution facilities. Each container was adorned with bold shapes inspired by Africa, sports themes and the figure of a female and male on each, indicating the respective bathrooms. Each ablution container was completed using spray paint and masking tape around each of the four sides.

We’ve previously featured Resoborg’s mural in Virginia, USA, his Taxi Dance mural, his RVCA collaboration in both NYC and SA and his piece at The Boiler Room.

To see more of Resoborg’s work, visit resoborg.com.

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Durban-based artist Wesley van Eeden, aka Resoborg, recently completed his latest mural, Sonner’s Sonnet, in a small American countryside town. 

This distinctly Resoborg large-scale art piece forms part of Staufferstadt Art, a local non-profit artist programme in Strasburg, Virginia that seeks to enliven the local community through artistic revitalisation. The programme sees artists from across the globe commissioned to create thought-provoking pieces that will ultimately turn the sleepy town into a motivating and uplifting gallery.

Watch the video:

Resoborg’s Sonner’s Sonnet tells the story of Strasburg. Known as “Pot Town” in the 1800s, Strasburg once boasted a large cottage ceramics industry and to this day still offers many an antique store filled with ceramic pots of all shapes and sizes.

In a desperate attempt to keep up with the subsequent boom in glass trade, potters began offering customisable pots that were unglazed. Resoborg’s mural depicts an abstract portrait of one of the many local potters that offered this service all those years ago, John Henry Sonner. The naked pot backed by colourful slices of pastel geometry serves as a metaphor for the little town and its impending potential as an unmarked canvas.

The curves on the pot represent the “Seven Bends” of the Shenandoah River that traverses Strasburg. As the everlasting flow of water shaped the unique turns over millennia, the bends on the pot in the mural intend to inspire fortitude and determination in locals to transcend adverse circumstances and to construct a meaningful life in both their town and the greater community.

See more of Resoborg’s work at resoborg.com.

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Durban-based designer and illustrator Wesley van Eeden, aka Resoborg, recently completed a 44-metre long mural, commissioned by the eThekwini Municipality.

The artwork decorates the newly built Cartwright Taxi Rank on Umgeni Road in the heart of Durban’s bustling business district.

The colourful mural sees an intricate and intelligent use of shapes gracefully put together to create imagery that depicts the culturally rich “taxi dance.”

“In a time of both urban decay and renewal, the artwork is positioned in a transient environment, where you will find locals travelling to and from work,” explains Wesley. “This vibrant art piece is aimed at inspiring locals and uplifting the surrounding environment where decaying buildings and city dwellers meet.”

For more information, visit resoborg.com. 

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Designer and illustrator Wesley van Eeden (aka Resoborg) is well known for his striking murals – from Durban’s Boiler Room Cafe to New York’s Queen’s College. His latest work, entitled Love Imvelo, can be seen on Station Drive in Durban.

Watch how the mural was created in the short video below.

We also chatted to Wesley about the process behind creating this beautiful piece.

What process do you follow when creating a mural?

The biggest thing is planning what you are going to draw before you actually start production. You need to work out the dimensions of the wall, work on the concept on paper, plan how long it will take so that you have enough time, as well as work out what colours are going to be used and how much. We also had a cherry picker, which helped us reach higher areas on the wall – it’s also much more comfortable than working on a ladder. There was a repeat pattern created on the left of the mural, and even though the images are simple, it’s not so easy to mirror to get them 100% balanced. This repeat pattern was printed out to size and stencilled onto the wall as a guideline for the painting, which you will see in the video. I do a lot of clean, straight lines, so a lot of masking tape is used to cut areas to get those smooth lines. The first phase is to sketch out the artwork to size – that is really the hardest part. Often I use a grid system to help plot out the image while working with a digital mock-up with all the dimensions.

How long did the mural take to complete?

The mural took 10 days to produce, but a lot of planning was done before the actual production of the mural, as we had to arrange permission to use the wall, purchase materials, apply for funding and work through the concept. I then created a carbon copy of the mural digitally so that I knew exactly what it was going to look like when it was painted on the wall. Everything was to scale to help with proportions, helping speed up the process, as I had all the guidelines prior to starting on the wall. So, in reality the whole process took three weeks.

What story are you telling through this mural?

On a surface level, it is just a pretty image. In my latest projects I have been attempting to replicate my vector work that I do digitally. Doing this with a brush is not as easy. On a deeper level, this attempt at paint “control” is metaphorical to the things that I can’t control or understand in our human existence. It acts as almost a meditation.

This work includes details inspired by local African patterns found in clothing textiles. There are subtle icons, such as the Protea and flamingo, both of which are products that can be purchased in Shoppe in Station Drive, who have partly funded the mural. The pattern represents balance and harmony with nature and acts to encourage a deeper interaction with the world.

The Human Elephant Foundation, who was the third funder, are a visionary and collaborative organisation that initiates, co-ordinates and facilitates discussion and innovative problem-solving to create a better, respectful and sustainable world. The image’s focal point is a girl touching a baby elephant. The hope for the mural is that the artwork appeals to both kids and adults and encourages and inspires our connection with nature. RVCA often use the term “balance of opposites” and a lot of the pattern in the work visually plays with balance and mirroring to further accentuate this vibe with the brand.

Why did you use this specific colour scheme?

I like to use happy colours in my work, even though some of the content in the mural is quite serious. I wanted people to be attracted to it and using fun colours that are pleasing to the eye is a good way to draw people in.

How is this different from your mural at the Boiler Room Cafe?

The mural produced at the Boiler Room Cafe is one of the my favourite works, as it was one of the first murals that I produced. It focused on simple shapes and limited colours and broke away from realistic works. This new mural is an extension of this style. The big difference is that this project was self-started and created with my own concepts, as opposed to a commercial brief.

What do you have planned next?

Book Dash in Cape Town is flying me down to create a children’s book on 19 November in partnership with Woolworths. Book Dash is a community-driven project where illustrators and writers come together for a day to produce a children’s book that is printed and given to kids for free in South Africa. I am also participating in a group exhibition in Franschhoek at The Boutique Gallery mid-November.

See more of Resoborg’s work at resoborg.com.

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Wesley van Eeden, aka Resoborg, is exhibiting at Salon 91 in Cape Town as part of an exciting group exhibition. We caught up with him to find out more about his latest body of work since returning from New York.

You’re part of a new group exhibition at Salon 91 with Andrzej Urbanski, Paul Senyol, Andrew Sutherland, Jade Klara and Dani Loureiro. Describe, in one word, what you admire about each participating artist?

Passionate, driven and happy.

What’s different about your latest body of work?

There is a significant shift that I wanted to take with this new body of work. Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to visit New York (which VISI featured here) and meet some incredible painters. I got to watch them work and I was really inspired by this. My older work was heavily inspired by thick lines – Barry McGee is probably my biggest inspiration.

However, I wanted to develop a more painterly aesthetic from what I saw when I was in the Big Apple. I have also started working bigger. My previous exhibitions often involved found wood and I created clustered installations, while now I paint on birch wood, framed up. I also worked exclusively in acrylic.

Being self taught I have learnt quite a bit. I have also begun exploring abstraction, which is new territory for me. The exhibition is titled This Is The Place and I wanted to look at things around me that I could be inspired by. One of the works, titled Pattern Politique is an abstraction of an African pattern that I am quite excited about. This body of work is certainly a transition from where I was to where I am going next.

We know South Africa influences your style, but how has your hometown of Durban influenced your new pieces?

Durban has a laid-back lifestyle that affords me the time to focus when I need to paint. I feel somewhat isolated from any “real” artistic community, but this isolation helps me to dig deeper into my imagination.

My studio is located around the CBD in an up-and-coming area on Station Drive, and it’s this environment that is a constant source of inspiration. There is an honesty and warmth that you will find here – and the weather is great. Strong African pattern-work and hand-painted signage are some of the biggest influences on my work. I like the honesty and freshness of hand-painted signs – to me it represents what Africa is all about and I like to recreate this feeling in my work as best I can.

What do you have planned for 2016?

I not only paint, but also work as a commercial illustrator, muralist and graphic designer, so I’ll be continuing with client-driven projects. There are also some exhibitions being planned in the United States, so I am looking forward to that as well.

View more of Wesley’s work at resoborg.com. You can also follow Resoborg on Instagram.

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You may recognise artist Wesley van Eeden‘s (aka Resoborg’s) work from Durban’s The Boiler Room Cafe, where he created a large mural of a woman waiting to catch a local taxi. Sticking to this theme, he recently completed a new piece commissioned by Queens College in New York, as part of the institution’s “Year of South Africa”. We chatted to him about his experience in New York, as well as how this vivid artwork came about.

How did this project come about?

A couple of years ago I had an exhibition in Cape Town. A professor from Queens College in New York was in town and bought one of my paintings. We have kept in touch ever since, so when his college decided to choose South Africa as this year’s field of study, he invited me to take part.

Every year the college chooses a country to study. They bring people from across industries throughout the world to share their knowledge and experience of their country with the students.

How do you think your piece celebrates South Africa?

South Africa is full of diversity in every way, from extreme wealth to extreme poverty. You find different cultures across the country. To try capture all of this would be impossible in one painting.

I chose specific things that celebrate our country, but that also resonate with me as an artist. I am personally interested in the hand-painted signage that you see in Durban’s CBD, as well as the hair salons and pop-up shoe repair shops you find on street corners.

This organic environment is celebrated with the typography that I included in the painting. The phrase “Mission Possible” was actually lifted from a passing taxi that I saw one day. I wanted to use these words as a message of positivity about our country, that the problems we face like crime and corruption, can be transformed and overcome.

I also included the Protea flower and African patterns as metaphors for the changing seasons and growth that South Africa is going through.

Why the Taxi Dance?

The taxi is an informal association that provides a service to the vast majority of South African citizens. They are a part of the urban fabric of our cities. A South African band called BOY$IN BUCK$ actually invented a dance that mimics the nature of the taxi driver. I thought that this was incredibly unique to our country and culture and I wanted to interpret this in the painting.

How long did the piece take to complete? Were there any obstacles you had to overcome?

I was in New York for three weeks to work on the project, but in total it took about two weeks to complete. The biggest obstacle that I faced was the interaction with the students – in fact, it wasn’t an obstacle, but more of a positive ‘distraction’.

Everyone was friendly and interested in what I was doing, so there were endless ongoing conversations throughout the process. I did the whole painting in a series of panels in one of the art department’s classrooms, so a lot of students came by to watch and assist with the painting.

How has your work been received in New York?

Everyone that I interacted with loved the work, so it’s hard to say… Everyone was so supportive and friendly. The artwork is now going to be installed as part of the permanent collection at the college’s library, which I am really happy about.

Are there any New York artists you’d like to collaborate with? 

New York has so many incredible creative people that are so inspiring, but I really would like to collaborate with the artists that I met while I was there. An exhibition is being planned next year with some of the artists I became friends with, including Carolin Wood, who does incredible wood sculptures, and Mirana Zuger, who works on super cool abstract paintings.

Watch how it all came together here:

Visit resoborg.com or follow Wesley on Instagram to keep up to date with what he’s creating.

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