Category Archives: street art

Interesni Kazki’s Surreal Street Art

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Through a tweet of a tweet of a tweet that I lost track of somewhere, I came across some fantastic street art  from Kiev, according to the post from one of the handful of street artists in Ukraine:

“We don’t see much street art coming out of Eastern Europe, but these surreal street murals by Kiev-based Interesni Kazki rank up there with some of the best in the world.

“There is no street art scene in our country, says Waone and Aec, who make up the two man group. “[The] Ukrainian street art scene is represented by less than 5 people.”

“We can define our art as street art or muralism with graffiti roots. The working process by itself inspires me. The more I create, the more ideas I get,” says Waone.”

I love the fantastic colors and smooth style of these projects. The one below fits into its environment playfully and smoothly, becoming a refreshing surprise in an otherwise plain landscape–which is exactly what street art should be.

Non-political streeet art in Cuba?

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It wasn’t all Che and political slogans. Somebody in Cienfuegoes had a lot of fun with the mural above and below. Click for the full size version of the mural above to see how nicely the artist did her eyes.

In Havana, this long wall along the Paseo Marti had an intricate mural running down toward the Malecon. What’s going on? I’m not entirely sure, but it involves a cigar, a film strip, and the head of Aristotle on a column interspersed with darker, more realistic scenes.

I suspect, rather than being deviant, these works must have gotten the official stamp to have survived in the prominent locations that they have.

Everywhere El Guerrillero Heroico

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I didn’t buy the T-shirt, but that doesn’t mean the iconic image of Ernesto “Che” Guevara wasn’t before my eyes everywhere I went the past 10 days. Che has become the definitive symbol of rebellion, a legendary leader of revolution, and in this widely reproduced image a 20th c. pop culture icon.

At the right is the popularized cropped version of Guerrillero Heroico, as the photograph taken by Cuban State Photographer Alberto Korda during a speech by Castro at the funeral for the victims of the La Coubre explosion in Havana, Cuba. It was taken on March 5, 1960 and Korda willingly shared the image when anybody he could- gratis- in order to share the ideals of Che. Korda has said that when he shot the picture he was drawn to Guevara’s expression of “absolute implacability” as well as anger and pain.


Slogans, such as “Hasta la victoria sempre” and “una de las mas nobles formas de servir a la Patria es consagrarse al trabajo,” appear next to the image, restating his ideals and beliefs in the revolution. By the end of the 1960s, mass produced posters and lithographs and the adoption of the image by Pop artists, turned the image of the charismatic and controversial leader into a cultural icon around the world. His death in Bolivia in 1967 elevated his status to that of a martyr, and his popularity in Cuba, where his family still resides, remains as high as ever. This image of him was first seen in Cuba at his funeral, and since proliferated there as it has in the rest of the world.