WEDNESDAY WALL OF FAME !
Belgian vibes that pass through Lisbon… it happens more and more and we couldn’t be more pleased – if it wasn’t only to distract us from Portuguese beers ; ) But back to their business on the walls… Joni aka Plur joined one of our paintjams with our collective yesyoucan.spray last October 2018. He has this thing of working with few colours though still adding an immense personality to the pieces he produces. Here you have a little intro to his him, and his spraycan-history !
My name is Joni Van Nieuwenhuyse and i write Plur!
I started with graffiti when I changed to a Technical School at age 14 and didn’t need to pay much attention in class. I started drawing on everything I could reach. As a teenager going to school with public transport passing loads of graffiti made me willing to be one of those guys putting my name up for the public. So basically I started by buying a black and a white hardcore and went painting under the bridge of my hood.
Later on I started to go to the Graffitistreet in Ghent (Werregarenstraat aka graffitisteegje) which is the most famous legal zone we have in Ghent. There I met loads of writers, bombers and artists. I started to learn more and more of the scene and get more can-control.
Due to school and starting to have a full time job, I had to put this aside for couple of years. Until I picked up the cans in 2015 again. That year I met Solid who inspired me with his enthusiasm to open a legal zone and create a platform for artists to grow on. So at the end of 2015 we started with Wallin’ as a collective that now 3 years later hosted lots of jams, organised some events and in 2017 even did an European exchange project with Lisbon “Graffiti Goldrush”. The documentary capturing the project is really worth checking out (with Portuguese artists like Nuno Viegas, Mariana PTKS, Violant and Belgian artists like a squid called Sebastian, Solid and Ceepil): https://youtu.be/7lpimEZuxMo
I am still searching for my own style and signatures while I keep painting as much as I can, trying to improve my skills. I love to paint in abandoned spaces, but also keep hitting those Halls of fame and legal zones all over the globe. I think for me the most important thing is to have fun making a mural, and making people happy with it. That is why I love to collaborate with other painters and artist to create nice things together and getting influenced during the process.
I think the best response to get is after a paintjam. Sitting there, enjoying the works, seeing people taking pictures with the wall you freshly painted. *Smiling proud face*
The work I’m most proud of is one of my latest murals, made to honor a friend that passed away. He had a Beloega as Totem Animal in the scouts.
Got interested to check out more:
If you got any picture collected from his pieces around the world, share it with us using our #lisbonstreetarttours ; )
