Jay Bisual for Contorno Urbano

Street art foundation Contorno Urbano have just added a third wall to their on going 12+1 project. This is the first wall that Contorno have in the heart of Barcelona, the other two being in the suburbs.

I suspect this won’t be the last of these walls however. I would expect to see Contorno try to bring more legal spaces to communities across the city in the near future.

For this first edition the organisers invited one of my personal favourite artists, Jay Bisual to come and inaugurate the project. I have written about Jay many times before as his illustrations are a regular presence on the streets. And because I love his work.

The illustrative world of Jay is inhabited by all sorts of surrealist characters. This particular piece is titled ‘Big city worms’. We see the main character causally making a call on the side walk whilst a giant three eyed worm creeps up behind him. I did say it was surreal.

What I like most about the scenes that Jay sets are the little nods to populist culture. For example in this scene Jay’s main character is rocking both chunky Yeezy sneakers and a bum bag. Two pretty fashionable things at present.

I also like the little nod to his NGFX crew on the phone box and the hot dog stand in the far corner. Such attention to small details that add so much to the overall piece.