BENGALURU: If you are wondering what happened to the black patched walls that succumbed to garbage disposals in Cooke Town, here is your chance to thank the graffiti and street artistes who have given those walls a colourful makeover. Graffiti artiste Rabah MK aka Left, street artiste Sidhanth Subbaiah, graffiti artiste Fabrice aka Blaze and street artiste Valentin Melchoir collaborated on August 22 to splash colours and revamp the “abandoned walls” at Cooke Town’s Davis Road. Subbaiah, Valentin Melchoir and Fabrice run a wall art company that specialises in mural paintings for restaurants, pubs and corporate offices called Stick No Bills.
Rabah describes this ‘graffiti jam’ as an effort to use art as a tool of communicating freely. “I travelled to Bengaluru from Calicut in July following the collaboration with Stick No Bills. The abandoned wall wore a dirty look earlier with trash dumped all around. To me, art is communication. Graffiti artistes leave a mark with their names on walls before moving on to the next one. I left my first public mark in Bengaluru,” says the 22-year-old, who is pursuing his post graduate in fashion management at National Institute of Fashion Technology, Hyderabad.
Similar to the concept of music jamming, graffiti jamming is when artistes come together to paint on walls. Melchoir, a resident of Cooke Town, says that the abandoned wall had remained an eyesore for many years. “We collaborated for a graffiti jam to beautify the wall and give it a colourful look. The purpose was not to send a message using art, but an effort to keep our surrounding garbage-free, hygienic and vibrant,” says Melchoir, whose team has also undertaken mural works at Lingarajpuram.
Subbaiah also believes that an artiste must get his freedom to express himself through themes. Usually, the artiste looks for walls that are free from private and government players. “It’s common for an artiste to encounter problems with authorities. We have encountered the same with Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) as they demand paintings related to politics — a topic we stay away from. That’s why we choose walls that are usually abandoned and free from any political affiliations. By doing so, we get
the freedom to paint what we want,” says Subbaiah, a Fraser Town resident.