Blu Street Art: An Icon of Urban Art

Are you curious to know who is behind the pseudonym Blu? We, for one, are passionate about the famous Italian street artist and although his identity remains a mystery to everyone, we have closely followed the evolution of his career as well as his artistic productions.

Originally from Bologna, Italy, Blu is a world-renowned urban painter active on the street art scene since 1999. He is known for his surreal and aggressive works painted in a style heavily imbued with comedy and satire, as well as the innovative and captivating graphic animations of his work which he shares via the web.

By reading this article, you will learn:

• What makes the artist Blu unique
• The beginning of his career and his artistic journey
• The main works of art he produced.

By the end of this, the artist Blu will hold no more secrets for you. You'll know exactly how he began his career, how he conquered the world with his talents as a painter and videographer, and you'll discover his most iconic works from around the globe. Let's explore all of this together, without further ado.

I) Blu, an atypical Street Art artist

Blu is a talented and mysterious urban painter from Bologna, Italy. The artist makes a point of keeping his real name secret. Despite his anonymity, Blu quickly gained international recognition for his graffiti skills and the social commentary in his works, which focus on humanity, nature, and critiques of capitalist society. An urban painter and video artist, his artistic journey unfolds in both the realm of street art itself and that of graphic animation.

A) A very promising urban artist

The artist behind the pseudonym Blu was reportedly born in 1980 in the historic city of Bologna in northern Italy. It was in the heart of this capital of the Emilia-Romagna region that Blu made his entrance onto the street art scene in early 1999. Like most street artists, he began painting his graffiti with spray paint .

His paintings, which beautify the walls of Boulogne's suburbs and industrial sites, allowed him to quickly gain recognition. With the evolution of his style and his shift towards large-scale graffiti from 2000 onwards, Blu expanded his range of tools with the increasing use of acrylic paint , rollers, and telescopic poles.

A distinctive and striking aspect of the artist's murals is their imposing and satirical nature. He enjoys creating his paintings on a larger scale, which helps him amplify the influence and impact of the messages he wishes to convey. He has thus painted numerous graffiti depicting enormous human figures with a sarcastic air, as well as characters inspired by comics and video games.

The street artist's unconventional approach is most evident in his chosen method of disseminating his work. Opting for a channel rarely used by most artists, Blu shares all of his work for free online. This helps broaden his audience and increase his popularity . He avoids the official art world and clearly stands in opposition to modern trends that seek to keep art elitist, expensive, and inaccessible.

B) A graffiti artist conquering the world

From the very beginning of his graffiti career, Blu readily collaborated with other street artists such as Swesa, Run, and Ericailcane. His work quickly attracted the attention of numerous gallery owners and collectors who were quick to offer him work in 2004.

With the collaboration of his friend Ericailcane , he participated in numerous artistic activities between 2003 and 2006, which contributed to increasing his notoriety. However, it was from 2008 onwards that Blu's fame took on a global dimension with the release of MUTO , an animated short film showcasing his works that captivated the world.

Building on his success, Blu set out to conquer the world, sharing his work in each of his many destinations. It must be said that the artist travels extensively, whether for leisure, work, festivals, or in search of inspiration. He has the opportunity to be invited to international festivals in Europe and across Central America, where he paints alongside other renowned artists.

His love of travel and thirst for exploration led the street artist to Latin America, where he visited countries such as Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica, Argentina, and Brazil. It was during his visit to the "Murales de Octubre" festival in Managua, Nicaragua, in 2005 that he painted his gigantic mural entitled "Hombre Banano".

It would become famous and go viral on the web. True to its logic of denouncing and criticizing capitalism, Hombre Banano represented its support for the ongoing struggle in Nicaragua against large banana production companies using harmful pesticides .

C) Blu, urban painter and videographer

Blu combines his talent as a painter with that of a videographer. This is, in fact, one of the pillars upon which the meteoric success of his career rests. Indeed, very early in his career, the street artist began producing short videos to showcase his works.

His style and specialty lie in silent graphic animations that bring his graffiti and murals to life and serve as an ideal medium for their dissemination to the public via the web. He has created several animated clips, some of which were used by the musical collective OK NO for their concerts in 2001 and 2003. These videos emphatically explore his favorite themes: raising awareness, criticizing consumer society, anti-globalization, and the evolution of humanity.

In 2008, he created and released his most famous animated video to date: Muto (Silent in English) . This short film marked a turning point in Blu's career and brought him international acclaim . The 7-minute stop-motion animation juxtaposes his murals created in Buenos Aires and Baden. Muto captivated audiences worldwide, reaching a record audience of over 11 million views on YouTube. It also earned Blu several awards , including the Grand Prize at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in 2009.

Another incredible video created following Muto is the acclaimed short film "Big Bang Big Boom," released in 2010. In the 9-minute video, filmed in a playground, Blu captivates audiences with his unscientific vision of the evolution of life on Earth and how it might eventually end. "Big Bang Big Boom" won the Best Short Film award at both the Terra di Cinema Festival in Tremblay, France, and the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in 2011.

II) The works of street artist Blu

Over more than 15 years as an artist, Blu has skillfully blended urban painting and graphic animation to create rich and original works. The direction of his productions places him under the banner of militant and socially engaged art . Through his oversized works, he depicts the darkest aspects of our world. He casts a critical eye on politics, wars, and rampant capitalism, denouncing the enslavement and degradation of humankind.

Between 2001 and 2012, the video artist created and released nearly 12 successful stop-motion videos showcasing his various works. Among his most popular animations are Muto and Big Bang Big Boom. These are followed by titles such as "Combo," co-directed with artist David Ellis, "Fantoche," "La quiete," "Morphing," "Blu in Valencia," "Blu and Ericailcane in Lazzareto," and others.

As for the works resulting from his talent as a painter, they comprise several hundred murals and graffiti painted on the walls of streets and buildings in major cities around the world or presented at international festivals. From Bologna to Berlin, via Los Angeles and Lisbon, the street artist displays his imagination and creativity on walls across the globe.

A) A graffiti artist in love with Italy

Blu has a strong connection to Italy. It's the country where he was born and raised, and also where he began his career as a street artist . Even though his work takes him around the world and allows him to leave his indelible mark on the streets, Blu has always lived in Bologna, Italy.

It is in Italy's major cities, such as Florence and Molise, that some of the street artist's most recent works can be found. One example is the series of murals entitled "La Pendemia" (meaning "The Pandemic"), created in the town of Campobasso in 2020 in collaboration with Draw. The same is true of his mural resembling a Taoist symbol, created in the municipality of Modeggi in the Florence metropolitan area in 2019.

B) Blu, street art in Bologna

The historic city holds a special place in Blu's artistic expression. It was in Bologna that he began his career and gradually built his reputation as an artist before establishing himself on the global street art scene . The city's streets and industrial sites bear Blu's earliest and most iconic works in Italy. However, in 2016, he decided to destroy and erase all his murals throughout Bologna in protest against the "Banksy & Co. L'arte allo stato urbano" exhibition and the monetization of street art.

C) Blu, street art in Rome

Like many other cities in Italy, this legendary city will host more than a dozen monumental works, some of which will be subject to censorship.

Several breathtaking works born from the imagination of the urban painter adorn the facades of buildings in the center of Rome and the streets of its many neighborhoods. The most impressive pieces are found particularly in the Emporium district near the river port , Ostiense, Casal de' Pazzi, Pigneto, and Piazza del Quatricciolo.

D) Blu's street art in Berlin

Continuing his travels across Europe, the Italian artist made several stops in Germany where he produced several remarkable works between 2007 and 2015. The city of Berlin is where the streets housed the most famous works of art made in Germany by Blu.

This is particularly true of the "Pink Man" mural, painted in 2007 at the end of the Oberbaum Bridge in Kreuzberg. The artwork depicts a huge, man-eating creature with deathly eyes, composed of small, frightened, and suffering-looking humans. Right next to Pink Man were other equally famous murals such as "Brothers," "Chain," "Global Warning," and "East and West."

E) Blu at the heart of Lisbon's street art

During 2010, Blu collaborated with painters Os Gemeos, Sam3, Ericailcane, and Lucky Mclauchan to create stunning murals for the Crono urban art project in Lisbon, Portugal. The murals for this project covered the main facades of three large, four-story buildings near Avenida Fontes Pereira de Molo and the Picoas metro station.

Blu's artwork "Crown of Greed," painted in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, depicts a businessman in a suit sucking the planet dry. His gold crown features the logos of the world's richest oil companies, including BP, Shell, Chevron, Texaco, and Agip.

As you may have noticed, Blu is an iconic street artist with a rich career and a reputation that transcends Italy, even though his identity remains shrouded in mystery. Socially and politically engaged, his works are always full of metaphors and symbols through which he freely expresses his views on society.

If, after reading this, you're more interested in the world of Street Art, we invite you to take a look at our stunning Street Art collection . You're sure to find something you love.

You now know practically everything about the life, artistic style, and works of one of the most famous street artists of our time. You can easily discuss and exchange ideas about contemporary art with urban art enthusiasts.

See you soon.

The Lofty Trend Team.