Astro under a bridge

This work brings together a geometric vocabulary and a abstract approach. Its value does not come from applying decoration to architecture: the mural gains meaning through its scale, its surface and the way it is encountered in a real place.

For Montreal graffiti artist Astro, it’s all about funk, style, and monsters. Having started painting in the mid-1990s, he developed a very distinctive style and created a world of his own, filled with funky letters and weird creatures. His inspirations range from old-school New York graffiti to European and Japanese comics. Always on the lookout for the perfect simple, bold outline to heighten visual impact, he aims for work that is always fresh and fun, with a vicious twist. In addition to graffiti, he paints on canvas and produces illustrations for various clients. From his beginnings with small tags in a back alley to full-scale productions, his passion and focus have never changed: to stay fresh and rock the city, all while having fun. His real roots in graffiti are lettering, but he has been painting characters for a long time. For him, graffiti should be simple, effective, and recognizable. Dichotomy: division into two mutually exclusive, opposing, or contradictory groups — a dichotomy between a clean canvas and a dirty wall; good and evil; children and adults; giants and small creatures. A smile can hide a weapon; a crack in a concrete wall can reveal a new world.

Astro, whose practice is connected with Montréal, develops a visual world that can be followed from one wall to another. Captions and archives connected to this body of work document interventions at Canettes de Ruelle, Plateau, Rosemont, Rouen legal graffiti tunnel, Montreal Nord, Breaking Walls. These points of reference place the image within a practice rather than treating it as an isolated visual.