Making of Aztec/Mayan mural in Dickson with David Chavez & PequeVRS
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Follow world renowned artists PequeVRS & David Chavez throughout the whole process of their monster 50m wall in Canberra.
This collab between David Chavez and PequeVRS has been 6 years in the making and Mustard Flats was there to document the whole process. Peque is from Sydney and could only travel down for limited stints so the pressure was on to finish this wall in an extremely limited time for its size. Ultimately rain delayed the project and multiple visits were needed stretching the job over months. All done by hand it was incredible to watch this 50m wall come to life.
“We wanted to show everyone where the corn came from, where the nachos came from. It was our ancestors that pioneered the corn. ”
Peque VRS is a world renowned graf artist originally from Mexico hailing from the VRS crew. Peque has had years on the streets which has earned him huge respect as one of Australia's best.
David Chavez has been leaving a legacy around Canberra for many years, most notably the Jackie Chan mural (above) in Dickson with artist Swaze. He is leaving his mark not only on the city's walls but also on the skin of our community. Working out of Tattoo Extreme his black and grey portraits have earned him the nickname Tattoo King, you may have seen his work on the arm of Nick Kyrgios at the Australian open (Above).
It was important for them to work on something that they were passionate about and from the beginning wanted to use themes from their own culture. Inspired by the Aztec and Mayan culture the wall bursts with Mesoamerican iconography and Native American portraits.
“We both had a vision to share our Native American, Aztec and Mayan culture together. We wanted to express our culture and show it off in Canberra.”
The detail that Peque provides is incredible to see up close and amazing to watch live. He has the ability to map out the entire wall by eye, no projectors or stencils. This is particularly amazing in this piece as the symmetry and geometry is the backbone of the design. On day one I watch Peque map out perfect circles and lines with a piece of chalk on a stick. No measurement or rules used.
David Chavez has mastered the art of the large-scale portrait and effortlessly brings out the emotion of his subjects. This mural is full of heart showing the generation that shaped the culture as well as the future generations that will take it forward.
Clearly these guys work well together but seeing the vibe at the wall day in and day out they were always smiling and supporting the process.
“When you collab you both become one. If one is down the other has to help the other out, in order to succeed.”
They had been trying to find the right project to work together on and the opportunity came up with City Renewal Authority and Malabar Apartments. More and more buildings are looking to artists to brighten up our public spaces around Canberra and we are lucky to have such high-level artists coming to town to help with that.
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https://www.instagram.com/tkchavezisme/
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