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Graffiti in the fast lane

Going towards the Yas Marina Circuit, as you emerge out of the Yas tunnel, your attention will surely be caught by a spherical structure completely spray-painted with graffiti.

But this is not an unwanted piece of art. In fact, the work was commissioned by Sky Management — the team responsible for bringing party host Skybar to Yas Island during the Formula One championship race. Eighteen international artists have been working 12-hour shifts in the past few days to finish the wall within two weeks.

The wall reflects the signature work of each artist who collaborated for this large-scale project, commissioned to attract greater interest in street art but also to draw residents out to experience a different kind of night life when O1NE Yas Island finally opens its doors on October 31 — the first day of the F1 season.

Roy Valk, also known as Karski, from Amsterdam was the master planner of the entire graffiti work. He said it took two and a half years to plan, design and put together his team for the project.

The theme revolved around the artists’ impression of music and nightlife, though painted with consideration for Emirati culture.

“We selected these artists from 35 based on their skills and (ability) to work together. It’s important that they have this friendly base as it worked best if artists get along well,” he said.

He said the greatest challenge was the weather, so work had to be done during the cooler hours of 6pm till 6am. At 18-metres high and about 3,000sqm facade, work had to be carried out with the use of cranes.

Sky Management’s business development and marketing manager Abraham Helal, said he hopes the creation will be recognised as the world’s largest privately-owned graffiti wall by the Guinnes World Records.

Does, an artist from Holland, specialises on letter forms and abstract art. For the wall, he painted a disco piece and is finishing off the big heart on the right side of the structure. An artist for 17 years, he said he found the project “commercial” compared to his usual work, “but I made an exception for this project because I think it’s a good opportunity to work together with different international artists”.

Telmo and Miel, a duo of realism art also from Holland have been working together for four years across Europe but said this was the biggest project they had worked on. They are responsible for the huge portrait of Johnny Depp on the right side of the wall playing piano on the train tracks of the New York subway and a DJ playing music on the left side corner.

“We have very similar style, so much the same in that sense,” related Telmo of his partner.

Although artists usually work alone, Telmo said that working with a partner was more fun as they accomplished more and could swap work when one got tired of a certain piece.

Sprayed in blocks on the left side centre of the structure were the words ‘good vibes’. Zedz, a Dutch artist living in Italy called his style technical free-dimensional block images.

“It is something I developed...(I) use words to define (an experience).”

Speaking about their experience in Abu Dhabi, Valk a.k.a. Kasrki, who started spray-painting illegaly at the age of 10, said doing graffiti here felt “different, especially in a place where there’s no grafitti at all, everything is clean”.

“It’s interesting to make this on this scale and for the VIP audience at that — usually they are the ones against grafitti,” he said.

Sari El Khazen, architect of O1NE said the club will offer a “new experience” for people who share similar music culture when it opens its doors.

The club, which can accommodate up to a thousand or 450 seated guests, will feature a 360-degree 3D projection mapping, providing a different setting every visit. O1NE will be accepting guests for the four-day F1 race but will only open every Thursday for the rest of the year. -olivia@khaleejtimes.com