New work of Alexei Luka, a Moscow-based artist, in Satka is a bright gift to the town and to all those who are interested in sports and outdoor activities. The wall along the skateboarding area at the stadium of School No. 14 was decorated with "cozy painting" that consists of different "frames" combined harmoniously with each other and with the surrounding environment.

The graffiti painting process took three days, and the bright composition is more than 50 meters of the supporting wall that separates the lower level of the stadium from the upper platforms. When embodying the new idea, the artist tried to turn a dull gray concrete wall into a beautiful, harmonious space, home-like cozy environment for children skating in the skateboarding area. The work was created at the invitation of the Sobranie Fund with the support of Magnezit Group and the Satkinsky district administration.

- It’s an interesting place with good potential. The views here are pretty nice, says Alexei about his new work. - I like it when sports grounds are built in urban areas. The more such public spaces, the better. By the way, there are a lot of children riding skateboards and scooters here. I’ve been able to talk to many of them. I’m glad they like the artwork. It will be a great background for taking pictures. And as for the park itself, some teens say they want it better looked after.

- The wall you had to work with is not that high and is quite long. Were there any difficulties working with such an object?

- It’s an ordinary concrete wall, the only difficulty was to deal with its proportions - it’s elongated. It’s always a challenge to do such an elongated pattern, so it’s fractional, segmented.

- It reminds me of edited footage...

- Yes, that’s why you have to get far enough away from it to see the whole thing. So the work is better and fully perceived along with the surroundings, buildings in the background. It looks different from afar, you can see that the beige colors resonate with the buildings and brown pipes on the grounds. Red is the most vibrant color in your town, and here it is also the brightest, the accent color, because we can see it in the surroundings (there are red handrails along the stairs and the wall). A total of 16 colors were used. I wanted everything to look harmonious, so that the work resonated with the landscape and architecture.

- Children who skate here said that they found their "favorite forms" in the geometric shapes: forms of skateboard, wheels, stunt modules. They were also looking for the number 14, as it is the school number, but found one that looks similar to both a one and a four...

- That’s fine, everyone sees something different, maybe someone will see something more there. Usually, I don’t make references to a place, and the school number is not hidden here either.

- What will you work on after Satka? Are you discussing new projects with the Sobranie Fund?

- My schedule has already been prepared for the whole summer, it is the busiest season because a lot of work is done in the open air. That is why it was difficult to come to Satka, but I am glad I received the invitation and was able to come again and work in this wonderful town. I came to you straight from Saint Petersburg, where in a small space called Benoit Garden we made two half-garden houses, half-benches. These are architectural objects called Little Houses for Reading. Now I’m going to Moscow to work on several exhibition projects. There are some new projects we are discussing with the Sobranie Fund but I would rather not say anything about them for now. I hope we will continue working together.

By the way, the new work in Satka is the third of the projects that Luka performed in the sports grounds. The most unusual of them is probably "I’m Home" one. He did the streetball court on the New Holland Island in Saint Petersburg.

FOR INFORMATION:

Alexei Luka is a Moscow-based artist, a representative of street wave art in Russia, whose artistic technique focuses on abstract painting as well as on reinterpreting the modernist traditions of neo-plasticism in urban space. Alexei has painted large-scale murals as part of various art festivals in Russia, Italy, Spain, Germany, Denmark, France, Estonia, Slovakia, and Morocco.

His mural painted in 2018 on the "Hangar" facade in Satka at the Satka Street Art Fest was included in the Top 100 Best Mural Paintings in Russia. The art object "Stayka 2607", created in 2018, was recognized as the best by popular vote of the All-Russian Award in the Field of Wooden Architecture “ARCHIWOOD”. Another work of Luka created in Satka is related to Magnezit Group: he painted a diesel locomotive.

Source: Magnesitovets. Photo by Anna Filippova, Anna Dubrovskaya.