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IN ST NAZAIRE, FELICE VARINI PAINTS THE TOWN RED
When traveling around the world, I always go up to the roof of my hotel to look at the city landscape. I am always amazed to see the amount of empty space that represents a potential blank canvas for artistic expression.
It is easy to imagine what the look of a city could be, with the help of landlords, government and corporations, if it became an outdoor museum unto itself. This idea had occurred to me many times before, but I actually found it in St. Nazaire, an industrial harbor town in France, a city that took on the challenge of transforming a docking zone into a work of art.
Inaugurated in 1856, this industrial harbor was fortified by the Germans as a submarine base during World War II. Leaving behind the scars of military fortifications and the risk of seeing this part of the city die, the city saw an opportunity in those ugly structures and the vast spaces they offered, a place for cultural events that could bring life to this part of town. But not until recently did the city realize that the adjacent and active dock zone could itself be part of that cultural movement. Why not connect a city with its current industrial reality in a positive way, through art?
The challenge of transforming one of the ugliest and uninteresting parts of the city into a stage for artistic movements was daunting, but ultimately brought thousands of visitors and made this dead part of the city alive again.
With the help of artist Felice Varini and the support of local businesses, a painting superimposed over a few buildings across the harbor created a larger than life painting that is among the most fascinating street art I had ever seen. As you walk across the vast space where the painting is spread, you appreciate the various elements that range over several buildings, only coming together as one painting when seen from a designated area on one building’s roof. From this vantage the painting, spanning over two kilometers, reveals itself in its entirety and impresses the viewer with its magnitude and breadth.
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