At first, residents of Ukraine’s historical capital weren’t too happy with what was being painted on a three-storey wall measuring nine-metres high and 13-metres wide.

Created by Cape Town-based solo artist Jake Aikman, whose recent show at SMAC gallery in Johannesburg was the highlight of the year’s art calendar, the mural is the first of his work to find itself outside a gallery.

Aikman’s paintings, which, for the most part, depict the ocean in intricate detail, take months to complete.

Speaking to HuffPostSA, Aikman opened up about his experience painting in Kiev:

“It was very strange working outside. I work very privately, I don’t share my studio with anyone, so no one gets to see my developmental stages. Being watched was very peculiar, but I really just put my head down because I had a lot to do.

“At that scale you can get away with a lot of things that you wouldn’t get away with on the scale of a painting on a canvas. But I think this will reach more people, and having that interaction was quite special for me.

“People initially started shouting at me when they saw the first high-contrast sketch I did on the wall. Someone translated for me and I found out that they were saying it was too dark, one woman even brought me a rose because she wanted something more pretty.”

Aikman made his way to Ukraine after he was invited by international public art organisation Art United Us, which plans to “make 200 walls in the city of Kiev”.

Man, I wish the City of Cape Town would be a little more lenient with their mural laws – look at what we could have:

Beautiful, ne?

The artist explained how local media interpreted the work in their own way:

“I had three impromptu TV meetings when I arrived, and the reporters latched onto the painting being of the Black Sea, and for me it is more of a universal ocean. But with Crimea being annexed by the Russians, the ocean is highly contested, and so people can make it mean what they would like it to.

“Bringing the sea to the city is the most important part of the project for me. The human vulnerability in the enormity of the ocean is important for our understanding of our own humanity.”

So, which building should we get Aikman to paint in Cape Town?

[source:huffpost]