Living Artists: Jaz
Argentinian street artist digs into the difference between painting in Latin America versus Europe and the U.S.
- Courtesy Jaz
“The image is only the excuse for the pictorial process, which is really where I find my satisfaction,” says Buenos Aires-based Living Walls artist Jaz. The statement makes perfect sense. The brushstrokes that form his pieces — from the tiger-faced lucha libre figures to the stolid elephants — are so finely crafted they could only have sprung from a painter in love with their creation.
Jaz runs around town with a crew of other artists (check Monday’s interview with his studiomate and frequent co-conspirator Ever), creating group works in which their pieces flirt with each other on the wall. We love his solo pieces though — and we don’t care what Jaz says about not having strict criterion for his building-canvases, his judgment about where to paint is above par. He’s sprawled his wrestlers so perfectly across the front of abandoned storefronts to the point where it makes you wonder what the structures were built for, if not to provide a backdrop for this guy’s work.
We caught up with Jaz while he was prepping for Living Walls this weekend, and he was already calling it “Hotlanta.” Welcome to town, Jaz.
How do you choose the buildings you want to paint on?
I don’t have specific selection criteria. Usually I paint the same places where I already know the ways and reactions of the neighborhood. When I need a new wall I simply look for one that has a good size, a large one usually. As Buenos Aires is a really large city without a lot of things standing in the way of painting, I’m able to work calmly wherever I want.
What are you up to at Living Walls?
I came to Living Walls principally to paint, but the living with other artists is also really important. You get to see other people’s new ideas, different ways of working, plus getting to know the city and the way in which the city receives my work.