Street Artist Sara Riel

Street Painting Team Meets...Street Artist-Performer  SARA RIEL

Photo by Art Bicnick

What does street art have in common ,in Athens2019, with street art in Iceland and Berlin?

How can a street artist claim his / her residence in any country in the world,to do what he / she loves?

 Icelandic artist Sarah Riel is one of the few women in the field of mural art and one of the first artists who brought a younger generation of people to the street art of Iceland, beyond the established New York graffiti style. We met her in Athens where  she lives for a few months.

   

   Fönix
Nýlendugata, Reykjavík, Iceland
photo Street Painting Team

                                        

                                                                                                 

-What brings you to Greece?

In Greece I came to live, life is cheaper, there is light, it is next to the sea and we have a similar way of thinking. Many of my fellow artists come from Island  to try out the way of life here.

There are also non-profit art organizations such as SNEHTA in Athens, as well as the A-DASH project offering  to the  artist, the opportunity to stay with studios, workshops and more ...

Gata - Street art 

Reykjavík/Iceland, Berlin, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Brussel, Hamburg, Tokyo

-With your experience as a street artist, from Iceland to Berlin and now Athens, do you believe they have anything in common?

If you compare the graffiti in Athens in 2019 with the street art in Berlin in 1999, then you might also see some similarities. In Iceland, they are different, it is safer than Berlin in terms of street art  and of course the way I tagged myself there as a street artist.

Gata - Street art 

Reykjavík/Iceland, Berlin, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Brussel, Hamburg, Tokyo

In Berlin, we used to go around  the city  in the nights, with our sprays and markers, and  make stories through comic characters that we created to expose our moods and feelings to the walls and dustbins, sometimes in the middle of the day .

Gata - Street art 
Reykjavík/Iceland, Berlin, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Brussel, Hamburg, Tokyo

 When you hold a marker and write in some way, is a tool to break the wall for some people. Suddenly you had a code of communication with neighbors and people you did not know before.

Animali
Njálsgata, Reykjavik, Iceland
2012
In collaboration with Thomas Korn

In Athens there is this harsh writing on the walls of any kind of style, I like when it comes together and ties like a picture, it looks like an album from a guestbook. I have not seen many wall murals yet. I always look around and see it as a cultural tour. In Exarhia, in particular, the amount of excessive writing you receive as a viewer is intense feeling the first time.

Fxxx Off

-In Iceland, how things were in relation to painting in buildings?

In Iceland I did it differently, I asked for the consent of the owner of the building. They were usually open to the idea and above all when you do artistic work, and with the freedom to create as an artist. The bad thing is when you have an official that has to give approval and decide what's good for the public eye.

-So you were asking for permition from some officials?

I have never had contact with public official.  But there is a gray line in the limits of art in public space. For example, if you wanted to paint your house or your fence and this is in public view, you must get some approval from the City. But no one is doing it, so I just thought of doing my painting without asking permission ... and hope for the best.

Cultivate your own garden
Seljavegur 42, Rey
kjavík, Iceland
2012

I think they too see it as I do, like a glimpse of light in the gray color of the day as you go to work. You see art where it was not supposed  to be, and it this is the purpose of street art.

 

Til Sjávar / Into the Ocean
2018
Reykjavík, Iceland

-In  which artistic mood are you in this time?

I enjoy creating on a more personal level and being more honest

Live performance by Sara Riel & Ólöf Arnalds

At this time and after my last exhibition from October to November in Reykjavík's Art Museum, I have released a block of my works.

                                                    Unconscious Fortunes
                                             - A poem for Sara Riel’s artwork, 
                                                 by Kristín Eiríksdóttir

I like to paint the music, not strictly the notes but creating with an abstract mood. Also the mathematics and numbers in the drawing are of interest to me and inspire me a lot.

Mengi (berlin)
Creative and Experimental Cities
October 14th 2016 – January, 2017.

I've been to the Art School all my life, it's the natural Museum of the mind, I'm evolving and I'm always in the process of discovering where it will lead me.

Sara riel 2
Núna (now) Festival
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
2010

 -With street art you go somewhere?

I have my ideas in addition to painting, I like to create with other materials, as I have used a mirror or glass, I search for depth in my work, making them interactive and put people to see and discover.

photo : Julia Staples

Street art has to do with communication, it's a feeling or a thought. And for people to practice their perspective, it is poetry that is exposed out there. 

Return ticket
Kling & Bang gallery
Reykjavik, Iceland
2009

There are 3 things that can destroy a work, weather, construction, and someone else's creation and ego.

.The Mushroom

Hverfisgata, ReykjavÍk, Iceland2012

S.P.T. - Sara thank you very much for this beautiful interview we wish you the best to your work

 

Micrometeorite (shooting star)
Spítalastígur 7
Reykjavík, Iceland
2014/2017

Sara Riel's works in addition to the murals are exhibited in several exhibitions, mainly in Iceland over time, as well as maintaining her own permanent gallery in Reykjavik.

Performance drawing
Skúli Sverrisson, Eiríkur Orri Ólafsson, 
Gyða Valtýsdóttir & Ólafur Björn Ólafsson.

Sara Riel Website               Instagram