After that terrific mural painted in Buenos Aires for TRAMA festival last month (here), the Uruguayan artist collective Colectivo licuado is now in Sisak, Croatia where they recently finished this new and stunning mural for the Re-think Festival.
“The union of the West and the East, reading a Croatian tale and sharing a cup of Turkish coffee.” This is how the artists choose to describe their latest mural, a description that also happens to be the title of the mural, being the new piece a representation of their first impressions of the Croatian country, which – culturally speaking – they found very similar to their native Uruguay.
In Croatia they found a young country with a long history, full of recent changes. It was only in 1991 when the country formally declared its independence from Yugoslavia. The process started the year before when Croatia introduced changes in the political system and the constitution that lead to the transformation of the Socialist Republic of Croatia into the Republic of Croatia, which in turn proclaimed the Christmas Constitution, and held the Croatian independence referendum, 1991. During that time the Croatian War of Independence started.
Although the Croatian people have suffered during its recent history, they are a proud people described by the artists as warm, sympathetic and worth of admiration and affection.
The mural depicts a young couple, where a woman of dark hair reads from a book, maybe a book about Croatia’s history? The man, also of dark hair and mustache, approaches her from the back with a cup of coffee on his right hand and the other placed on the woman’s left shoulder. A familiar and intimate scene for many of us. The scene speaks about tradition, notice the porcelain and the (maybe) the a bit old-fashioned clothing of the characters, not to mention the gothic font on which the word “Licuado” was written on the upper right corner of the wall.
The mural was painted on the exterior wall of the home of a woman called Marija Zaloker, who welcomed them as if they were part of her family and gave them a history lesson.
About the artists
Formed five years ago, the duo composed of Uruguayan artists Camilo Núñez and Florencia Durán have firmly established themselves as pioneers in a rapidly growing street art scene with a series of collaborative murals that encompass the cultural and natural context of the neighbourhood they are in. The two artists, who already had successful careers of their own, Camilo painting as THEIC and Florencia as Fitz, joined forces in order to bring the best of their art to the streets and fill public and private spaces with colour.
Images by Colectivo Licuado y Re:Think festival
More on website | facebook | instagram theic | instagram fitz
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.
