The Brussels artist Eres created a gigantic tribute to the healthcare sector, six metres high and fourteen metres long. This work – the first to be painted in public after the corona crisis – was, of course, executed in his typical collage style. He deliberately chose to portray the nurses and doctors without heads, so that everyone would be compelled to identify with them. You will find this work on a wall opposite the Damiaan Academic Hospital. The hospital’s general manager has already thanked The Crystal Ship for the work. He and his team find it very inspiring.
Alexis Diaz’s work is iconic; his big imaginative drawings are full of details. Before working on his mural in Ostend, Alexis Diaz went to the Ostend City Museum to look for inspiration. In one of the books in the museum, he found a picture of Ostend’s old coat of arms and the story of the three keys. Keeping this myth in mind, Diaz made a new coat of arms for the city and drew mermaids, seagulls and whales on it.
This work of art was originally displayed in the Kapellestraat and later on Oosteroever, but can now no longer be viewed in Ostend.
She painted her ex-boyfriends as idiot zombies, doodled sarcastic messages on scraps of paper and became a huge Instagram phenomenon. Above all, Wasted Rita is a talented illustrator. Time and again, she succeeds in translating complex problems and situations into powerful sentences and drawings.
For one whole week, she was The Crystal Ship’s artist in residence in Ostend. She unleashed her cynicism and humour onto the city in two art projects. With traffic signs referring to solitude, white supremacy,… she gives us social criticism. Additionally, she covered a building with billboards, carrying funny messages.
Billboards: Emiel Moysonplein
All alone – All by yourself: Corner Langestraat/Louisastraat (no longer visible)
A little bit of this – A little bit of that: Corner Sint Sebastiaanstraat/Christinastraat (no longer visible)
Life will be great – If you go that way: Kaïrostraat 11 (no longer visible)
No one cares – No one cares either: Corner Stockholmstraat/Amsterdamstraat (no longer visible)
So much pain – So little gain: Christinastraat 67 (no longer visible)
Fulfillment – Balenciaga Shoes: Albert I-promenade HT. Kursaal Oostende (no longer visible)
White men – White men: Corner Leon Spilliaertstraat/Euphrosina Beernaertstraat (no longer visible)
Exclusiveness is not in Paola Delfin’s dictionary. Her work is there to be seen by everybody. Consider her urge to experiment with different art mediums and techniques and you will understand why street art is her vocation. This Mexican artist uses her work to investigate the impact of feminine beauty and draws most of her inspiration from daily life. In her own words:“I believe that art needs to be seen everywhere possible, to bring a white wall to life, and make a story out of it.”
It will be hard to miss Paola’s work at The Crystal Ship. She painted a mural of no less than 40 meters high, with three immense and technically refined portraits of people she met in Ostend, one of whom is Tineke Decroos, community worker for that neighbourhood.
There is a tiny voyeur hiding inside everyone of us and Mohamed L’Ghacham likes to draw him out. This Spaniard with Moroccan roots paints gorgeous scenes from everyday life, incorporating influences from classic impressionism. Generally based on pictures he collects, L’Ghacham’s murals are infused with his particular aura of warmth. The surroundings also play an important role. When you look at his work, you momentarily enter the life of someone else.
Mohamed’s work always centres on memories and family scenes. In Ostend, he painted a woman cutting a birthday cake. This image is universally recognisable. Mohamed wants to portray the mother as an important member of the family. On the other hand, he sees the cake as a symbol of division and inequality.
In the early nineties Miss Van hit the streets with her distinct sensual female figures. This instantly made her a pioneer for female street artists. Miss Van became especially famous for her ‘poupées’: female figures with pursed lips and almond-shaped eyes. In her dream-like scenes she does not ignore sensuality but also includes a lust for life. Miss Van’s work seeks to underline the natural instincts.
Miss Van painted one of her more archetypal artworks in Ostend and used the most gorgeous colours. The work exudes poetry. Don’t look for a hidden meaning, though. Her work is almost purely esthetic.
When travelling through Croatia, you may come across Lonac’s work. This young and gifted Croat is inspired by the skate scene, comic books and social questions to make hyperrealism collide with surrealism in his portraits. With technical finesse at the core, his spray cans and brushes do the rest. The subjects in his work always belong to his circle of friends and family.
During The Crystal Ship he chose to paint an old woman. In his opinion, art does not feature the elderly enough. The mural shows a lady in a train station, looking for something in her handbag, with graffiti and a train adorning the background.
This artwork was painted over by Maya Hayuk in 2022.
Have a quick browse on social media and you will undoubtedly come across the work of 3D-artist Leon Keer. Even if the Dutchman’s work is usually temporary, his anamorphic 3D tableaus are immortalised by their innumerable likes on social networks. Keer views his creations as live performances and happily enters into a dialogue with the audience. Not shunning social topics, he highlights them in a playful manner.
As a true citizen of Delft, he chose to depict the traditional Delft-blue vases and cover them with doom scenarios linked to climate change. Floods, heavy storms, extreme droughts: a warning of what will come if we do not take better care of our planet. It is only recently that Leon Keer started to make political statements through his work.
Helen Bur gives us exceptionally beautiful portraits that, if on canvas, could easily grace any living room. During The Crystal Ship, this British artist drew her inspiration from the ‘Theater Aan Zee 2019’-theme ‘involvement’. She created dozens of smaller portraits of local citizens, painted on their own facades. Strong images: technically refined, but mostly memorable. Fun detail: The subjects are always walking. This allows Helen to infuse her work with a dynamic energy that is absent in static images.
Escif astounds the whole world by portraying social criticism in an esthetically stunning way. Minimalism and pure elegance with a message, designed to rouse the public. Escif’s identity remains a mystery. In Valencia, however, you may have the chance to spot him. Ordinarily, this street artist only paints in the streets of his beloved Spanish town. However, he gladly makes an exception for Ostend.
Escif painted two murals in Ostend. The first one is of a small dog and holds the message ‘Save the planet’. He calls it his most politically charged work. This perspective is somewhat humorously self-deprecating, as most of his other work is even more politically potent. Escif wants the freedom to interpret art to be unchecked; the artist’s opinion is of no importance. His other composition is a un-contoured drawing of Tintin with the message ‘No borders’.
