French grafiti artist Mark093 paints Colombo

French graffiti artist Marko93 recently visited Sri Lanka as part of the French Spring Festival. He produced a series of artworks in Colombo, Kandy and Matara.

He drives his tag name from the apartment numbered 93 where he used to reside in Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris. His early influences were American Street Art, during the 80’s he would paint on train wagons and abandoned buildings in and around his city. In Tunisia he painted a Boeing 747. Wherever he travels he will incorporate that countries alphabets in to his work. The piece she has made on this trip have Arabic calligraphy mixed with a figurative style.

In Colombo you will able to see two walls at Park Street Mews decorated with is art. One is of a Middle Eastern woman against a blue and with background; she wears a thick sliver necklace, Eiffel Tower earrings and hair tied up with roses decorating the style. Round the corner is a free style piece that is purely abstract.

Organic shapes are contrasted against ridged squares and triangles. The paint is also allowed to run and droplets can be seen. At the Black Cat Café on Wijerama Mawatha, he has painted a huge mural of a panther. The cat is drawn with cobalt blue, indigo and again incorporating Arabic calligraphy. There is also reflective tape diagonally coming from the eyes, which when a cameras flash is used to take a picture, will create an even more sticking picture.

On his visited he was also commissioned to paint an abstract piece on the roof top pool at OZO hotel in Kandy. His trip to Matara includes a workshop with pupils at Presidents College. Taking them through his use of brushes and spray can techniques. There you will be able to see two figurative pieces, a rooster and an elephant.

Marko said “I love the form of the Sinhala alphabet, after I go to Paris I shall practice think about how to mix and you will see it in my next pieces.”

Pictures and text by Dilantha Dassanayake