Modern-Day Frescos
When love towards the classical, renaissance (and baroque) paintings and street art unite, the end result is an impressive blend of humor, subversion and excellent drawing technique, i.e. the intriguing way Polish street artist Yola expresses himself.
Her obvious references to art history are reinterpreted through combining paintings and blown-up photos of people from her local community, mostly senior citizens. Such a strategy could be deemed somewhat subversive considering it involves the elderly population (those who are, in Yola’s words, “already one foot up in heaven”, existing on the margins of society and placed in nursing homes) which is fast becoming a part of “saintly iconography.” Yola gives them a fresh vitality and voice, as the pensioners become either heroes or muses on murals in their own town, Warsaw. Along with pensioners, her protagonists are members of various subcultures such as punkers. At the same time, the illustrations themselves being highly recognizable in their Leonardo or Rubens motifs take away any surrounding aura of their “genius” or “holiness.” It’s interesting to note that Yola hasn’t (as yet) come up against the Polish authority’s censorship considering the fact that Poland is a predominantly Catholic country which doesn’t condone art or toying with religious motifs from canons of the Church – especially if regular people participate in the “Taking Down from the Cross”.
For more on this intriguing street artist click here
