WASHINGTON : A new Guinness World Record has been set for the largest spray paint mural by a team in Brazil, where artists covered a 560-foot wide wall with a vibrant painting inspired by the Rio Olympic Games.
Titled ‘Etnias’, the painting covers an abandoned warehouse in a street known as Olympic Boulevard in Rio de Jainero.
Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra led the team that designed a canvas of immense hue and history, pursuing 45 days of painting to finish the mural in time for this year’s Olympic Games, Guinness said.
Using a quilted design of brightly saturated figures, the mural depicts five indigenous faces of tribal people from differing continents – a choice made by the artist based on the number of rings presented in the Olympic symbol.
Each portrait in the spray-painted composition exhibits the aged faces of the Huli people from New Guinea, the Mursi from Ethiopia, the Kayin from Thailand, the Supi from Europe, and the Tapajos from the Americas.
At 51 feet in height and stretching 560 feet in width, the illustrated faces watch over the 3 kilometre street filled with live music, bars, fireworks, and food trucks.
“I wanted to show that everyone is united, we are all connected,” Kobra said.
To create the work, the team primed the building with white paint, drew a grid-pattern to layout the design, and sprayed in brilliant colours.
It took 180 buckets of acrylic paint, 2,800 cans of spray paint and seven hydraulic lifts to finish the piece.
“Etnias” is actually an addition to the artistic series he has begun called “Peace Outlooks” featuring spray-painted portraits of famous peaceful figures like Malala Yousafzai, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr.
Korba has crafted street art in 20 different countries, doing renditions of Bob Dylan, Dalai Lama, Yoda and John Lennon. (AGENCIES)
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