Just on the corner of Willowbank Road behind Union Street, The Glöbel Brothers piece of public art spreads itself across the large backside of a house.
The Glöbel Brothers is a duo based in Glasgow and consists of Ciaran Glöbel and Conzo Throb. Glöbel is a graphic designer and mainly known for his traditional technique of sign painting, while Throb focusses on the character-based part of their art works.
Conzo and Glöbel’s mural shows a seagull portrayed as an action figure toy titled “The New Super Scurry”. The first thing that popped into my head while looking at Conzo and Glöbel’s mural, was the similarity with a ‘retro’ advertisement, through the dominant use of calligraphy and signs. Apart from the significant size of the art work, the vibrant colours make it nearly impossible to miss. The NuArt Festival in Aberdeen was created, among other things, to bring colour into the typically grey city. The said attraction seaking vibrancy of the colour and the attraction provoking layout of the mural, do really implement the thought of bringing colour into Aberdeen.
The antiquated craft of calligraphy and its techniques / tools are represented in Glöbel’s execution through his use of traditions paints like Sign Painter’s Enamel Paint and brushes. Though Glöbel emphasised on how technology of the modern era revolutionised his chosen craft to a great variety.
The piece is very Aberdeen specific in choosing to portray a characteristic of Aberdeen in a kind of humorous way. Everybody who lives in Aberdeen for quite a while knows that it is not the smartest idea to eat anything while walking through the streets and people who just got to Aberdeen have to experience it the hard way – seagulls are the devil in person. No matter the time of the day you will get attacked by those massive seagulls. So why not portray Aberdeen’s enemy number one as a toy action figure for the affordable price of 20.18 pounds ?
The front which carries Conzo and Glöbel’s mural was previously decorated with another ‘piece’. First the artists were concerned if the mural would be accepted by the people living in the area, because of being the complete opposite. Though even during creating the mural, the positive feedback did really encourage them. In Conzo and Glöbel’s eyes public art and more specifically street art is open to anybody and moreover, open to anybody’s opinion.
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Interesting! The mural does recall traditional sign painting and advertising techniques!