Could street artists like Eduardo Kobra be the answer?
Painting the exterior of your house is often seen as a mundane, boring task. The priority will often be ensuring your home doesn’t look out of place with other houses on your street, alongside making sure that the finish will be able to withstand the natural erosion and wear-and-tear caused by rain, wind, and snow, over the next few years.
But what if you want to do something a little more interesting with your home? Perhaps you own a detached property on a large lot that leaves you a little room for creativity; or maybe you just want to decorate non-street-facing walls with a little color – perhaps even a design of some kind – rather than sticking with a blank, neutral color. In this scenario, you might well be looking for some inspiration – what possibilities are there? Who might you take inspiration from?
Enter Eduardo Kobra artist, a Brazilian man who, on his home turf, is nothing short of a major celebrity. Kobra began as a graffiti artist, but his work was quickly recognized for its artistic merit, allowing him to reinvent himself as a professional artist with a keen eye for street art, particularly expensive murals that blend a multitude of colors with elements of pop culture – all created using his own signature techniques.
What can Eduardo Kobra Teach us about House Painting?
So far, so amazing – but on the surface, it can be hard to see how Kobra’s techniques have anything in common with the seemingly mundane task of repainting the walls of your house. In Brazil, however, homes are painted in much more diverse ways than in the Western nations of Europe and the United States, and an increasing number of people are creating murals, using bright colors, and even recreating the works of their nation’s favorite young artist on the walls of their home.
Meanwhile, in the West…
I’m not sure this would go down so well in America, however – many states even have laws to prevent people from painting their home in “garish or offensive” colors and designs, intended to protect the value of other properties within the local area. It seems that, in much of the West, those who enjoy Kobra’s work might have to taper their ambitions somewhat if they want to avoid any trouble in their local community.
Of course, the inside of your home is your castle, and there you are free to be as creative as you please. Kobra has recently begun producing smaller versions of many of his most famous pieces, enabling his fans to purchase his art for the first time. Kobra has created vast murals in several of the world’s largest art markets including France, Spain, Italy, Norway, England, Malawi, India, Japan and the United Arab Emirates, and managed to pick up quite the number of fans along the way.
Painting Inside Your Home
There is more that we can learn from artists such as Eduardo Kobra, however. Part of the reason for his huge popularity has been the innovative, original style he uses to create his pieces, and this is something that could be replicated in different ways when painting the inside of your home.
For example, one of Eduardo’s greatest tricks is to paint a realistic human image, and then contrast this sharply with multi-colored, psychedelic backdrops. We may not all have the skills of Kobra, but this technique of creating sharp, interesting contrasts could surely be applied to the interior design of your home without needing a degree in art.
Kobra has always stated that his mission when creating his murals was to make art accessible to everyone – he wanted to “create a space where the public can go and interact with art – they shouldn’t have to visit a museum or art gallery if they want to experience the magic of art”. This is a mission he has surely achieved, and I’m sure that it must give him a great sense of pride to now be selling home-sized pieces that are truly available to anyone.
But wouldn’t it be an even more amazing legacy if his work could inspire people to enjoy creating art of their own? Even if the task at hand is just updating the walls of your house, why not ask yourself if there might be a way to make it more enjoyable by injecting a little creativity?
I believe this would be something that Kobra would love to see.
