Horse Chestnut, Amok Island, 2016
Doctor Jan van Breemenstraat 1
Street art of flora and fauna with geometrical precision in multi-coloured pastels
Street artist Amok Island was born and raised in Amsterdam and now works and lives in Australia. Whoever sees his work can but conclude that he would have made a great zoologist or botanist. His works can be seen in many places and they all show his fascination with flora and fauna. With geometrical precision and in multi-coloured pastel shades he adorns walls and facades with red frogfish, flatback sea turtles and tiger snout sea horses.
Perhaps the horse chestnut on this façade, with its prickly appearance and the glossy fruit within, reflects something of this building’s character? The façade belongs to the LTS ‘broedplaats’, located here since 2016. Right next to it is De School (the school): an all-in-one club, restaurant, gym, art space and bar. In a time when project developers prefer to demolish former school buildings to erect apartment complexes for dual-income households, it is relief that LTS and De School are still standing. The question is for how much longer. The fact that the chestnut, with its affected leaves, is showing signs of decay is quite fitting.
More information
Sykes, Brock (2018) We love Amok Island’s large-scale minimal, geometric murals, www.oddpears.com. URL bezocht op 25 mei 2018.
https://www.oddpears.com/blogs/blog/we-love-amok-islands-large-scale-minimal-geometric-murals-of-native-australian-species