Giant squirrels taking over Vesterbro

World-famous street artists leaving their mark on the city

Alex Pedersen

Jun 11, 2015

If you have wandered around Vesterbro in the last few days, you have probably noticed the half-finished street art creeping up various buildings.

As part of an extensive street art project by the Danish photographer Søren Solkær, six artists are currently painting six different gables (the triangular upper part of a building wall beneath the roof) in the Copenhagen district.

The project is a lead-up to SURFACE, an exhibition of Solkær’s own photographs of the 122 most influential street artists in the world, which opens this weekend at Øksnehallen.

“I fell in love with some of the artists because of their magical work methods and pieces. It made me think it could be amazing to get their pieces displaced all over the townscape. That’s why I invited them,” explained Solkær to Metroxpress.

“We don’t have a lot of street art of that scale here, so I thought it was important that people get to experience and feel the magical process closely as the artists make it.”

The project has been underway for the past three years and resulted in a worldwide exhibition, a photobook and now the Vesterbro street art, which has received 350,000 kroner in funding from Copenhagen Municipality.

“It has to be seen,” Chinease DALeast, who is one of the six artists whose work is adorning the walls, told Metroxpress. “Not just in photos, but also in reality. It is like sex being better than masturbation.”

ROA who is originally from Belgium is decorating Gasværksvej 34 with his world famous motives of giant animals, in this case both squirrels and birds (photo: Øksnehallen Facebook page) — ROA, who is originally from Belgium, is decorating Gasværksvej 34 with his world famous motifs of giant animals, in this case squirrels, rabbits, hedgehogs and birds (photo: Øksnehallen Facebook page)

Chinease DALeast's capture of the eagles wingspan on Oehlenchlægersgade 76. (photo: Øksnehallen Facebook page) — Chinease DALeast’s capture of the eagle’s wingspan at Oehlenchlægersgade 76 (photo: Øksnehallen Facebook page)

The Danish HuskMitNavn is sharing his round-headed cute figures on Tullinsgade 21. (photo: Øksnehallen Facebook page) — The Danish artist HuskMitNavn is sharing his round-headed cute figures at Tullinsgade 21 (photo: Øksnehallen Facebook page)

Not photographed are the works of Maya Hayuk from the US, who is known for her elaborate use of colours – perhaps she will share some of her geometrical compositions (Saxogade 71); Spanish artist Gonzalo Borondo, who is well known around Europe for painting bodies and anonymous people, despite being only in his early-20s (Vesterbrogade 60); and Irish artist Conor Harrington is working on what looks to be a massive sitting down man (Tullinsgade).