Like i promised in the first ever blog post, here in the second one, I'm dwelling into my archives of my travels around the World.
I'm going to start with letting you know that during the years from 2011 to 2016, after I had quit studying something I never wanted to but now understand that I had to, just to get depressed, fed up and angry at world enough to leave everything and go for travel. Far far away, to find what had been very close, within, all the time.
What was I studying before? International business of course.. yes you heard it.
I spent around 4,5 years on travel with my backpack, tent, surfboard and brushes, paints and markers. Coming back to Finland twice to meet my family and friends and to work a bit to be able to leave again. The last 2,5 years I traveled across 5 countries in South-America of which a great portion in Ecuador.
"Fauno", Vilcabamba, Ecuador - 2015
This picture above is from a very special little village by the Vilcabamba river in Ecuador. I had spent a month in the area and done my first small solo commission (and some other mind expanding solo missions that I'll talk more in the coming posts) when an Argentinian traveller friend and talented artist, Ludnyk, came to town.
From the beginning we had a special connection what comes to friendship and art. Many times, like with this painting, we would see exactly the same forms in the wall that would guide us to visualize the image we would end up painting. We would paint simultaneously and improvising. One would start with the left eye and the other with the right, then swapping sides and finally painting where-ever we felt the image needed more work.
"Taita Pacha", Vilcabamba, Ecuador - 2015
After one month, we had painted five murals together in this little village in the valley of Vilcabamba. One of them, "Taita Pacha", located across the river from the "Fauno", welcoming people coming to the center from that side of the village.
These were painted in 2015, and I heard rumours that at least another mural we painted was still in place last year.
Have you visited this village and maybe seen these murals? Let me know!
Peace,
Niko
Ps. If you would like to support my ongoing journey as an artist, please see the Store page or contact to order an artwork, Thank You!
- "Whether it's a recycled skate deck, canvas or a large wall, I love to paint improvising. Exploring the little details of nature and the connection that I feel are common to all life." - Uni
#uni #artist #travel #streetart #murals #graffiti #ecuador #vilcabamba #sacredvalley