Last week, Munich-based artist Rafael Gerlach aka SatOne returned from the beautiful city of Sète in France where he, invited by the team of K-LIVE painted this vibrant piece titled “Rise and Fall”.
Like in the rest of his work, SatOne relates the concepts of his murals to the places he visits and the surrounding spaces of his pieces. “Rise and Fall” is no exception to that rule. The new piece is an abstract representation of a sunset, symbolising the many stages in life. The movement of the sun is dictated by the artist’s colour palette and can be read from left to right. Rising from over the Mediterranean Sea in a vibrant interplay of blues and reds, to the brightness of a sunny day, a world full of possibilities that later finds rest behind one of Sète’s hills.
According to Rafael, he was inspired by the location of the wall, a highly visible spot located in the middle of an intersection, having the channel on one side and a residential street on the other. A spot you can see from different angles, just like one of Sète’s beautiful sunsets.
Not unlike the rest of his work, the new mural is representative of Rafael’s style, specially the one developed during the past couple of years. His creations, non-figurative in the essence, represent imaginary worlds and abstract forms that open up for several interpretations capturing moments of distorted realities. The meaning is not given or obvious, inviting the viewer to explore the painted surface and draw their own conclusions. My question is, what is yours?
About the artist
Rafael Gerlach aka SatOne, was born in Venezuela in 
1977. At the age of two he and his family moved back to Munich where he currently lives and works. After starting out in graffiti in the 90s, then training as a graphic designer a few years later, he gradually developed a twofold field of exploration combining abstraction and colour, and revealing an introspective reflection that connects the work of art and the spectator. Self-proclaimed independent artist, SatOne prefers to not be confined to any movement, and regards his studio as an experimental laboratory where he gives shape to a rich, free aesthetic which is open to personal analysis.
Author: Fran
Founder and editor of Urbanite. Street Art lover who after the finishing her MA thesis on the Mexican and Norwegian muralist movement in the 1920-50s, developed a fascination for street art and graffiti that eventually led to collaborations with different art blogs, including the creation of this one.
