Jan van Gils’ hands are covered with black and blue paint. Together with other students from the St. Joost art academy, he has been busy all day helping the Brazilian artist Pixote Mishu. He makes a life-size painting on the blank wall of a flat in Den Bosch.
The painting on Copernicuslaan is ten meters wide and fifteen meters high, so the artists should not be afraid of heights. They go up with a ladder and window cleaner cart. Van Gils is not used to painting at such an enormous height. “It’s really good to hold on to at first, but slowly you get used to it and you can focus on painting.”
The arrival of the artwork is an initiative of the Open Art Museum and the King of Colors foundation. “It is the first mural in Den Bosch West”, says Stefan van Ham, the chairman of the foundation. According to him, Pixote Mishu is a well-known artist in his own country, but it is the first time that he has made such a large work of art outside his own borders.
“I watch the progress for a few hours every day”
Mishu has been working on it for weeks, first a sketch was made on the wall, later it was colored in. That painting is not done with a brush and pencil, but with aerosols. The painting consists of a huge head in native colors. “A tribute to a friend of Mishu, an artist who died last year,” says Van Ham.
According to him, all residents of the flat were informed in advance and almost everyone was enthusiastic.
Resident Nolda de Bie watches from her balcony. “Beautiful, really beautiful,” she says. Apartment resident Henk van den Heuvel parks his scooter every day so that he can see the artist at work. He has pasted a photo on his scooter, a small version of the artwork.
“I watch the progress here for a few hours every day, it’s fun. From me all flats can become like this, let them go straight to the other blank wall of the flat.”