We followed Florencia Durán and Camilo Nunez from Colectivo Licuado, Uruguay as they painted a monumental mural for the Crystal Ship in Belgium.

Mastering spray paint with a hyperrealistic style, their creations juxtaposes culture and local traditions based on the context and environment in which they are working, adding their own style and a touch of art nouveau: skin tones, drapes, lighting and shadows are surreal.

With their mural, Colectivo Licuado paid tribute to Ostend, the city by the Sea. With two  two women, they wanted to illustrate a balance between the calm and the storm at Sea. The standing tall blond girl represents storms, with a lot of energy, drawing strings of winds, while the seated brunette is peaceful and having a protecting hand on the boat.

We asked both of them a few questions to find out more:

B: Can you tell us more about your background?

CL: We knew each other studying industrial design 10 years ago. We always made student projects together , so we learned how to work as a team. Both of us always had interests in the arts. So years later we started painting in the streets as a hobby, but it quickly became our passion and our work, and we started to work really hard on this.

B: What is the situation in Uruguay towards street art/graffiti ?

CL: Street art is really new, less than 10 years. We are few of us, but little by little growing in numbers (be aware that we are 3 million people in all the country). So we are painting and growing together just to represent our country, because we are all really close.
There are more graffiti writers, they are really active and are also really close together.
In our opinion we need more big walls and more festivals that help us all to grow.

B: Colectivo Licuado is an artistic duo, so how did it started and what is your creative process?

CL: We started 7 years ago, like a hobby, but after our trip of South America, we realized that we could live from this and travel. So we started to work harder.
Nowadays, we think of an idea or message that we want to make in the wall. Lots of times it is something in relation to the environment of where we are going to paint the wall, some story, character, mythology. Then we always take some photos with a friend photographer, we ask for some of our friends to be our models, with a specific clothes and objects. Later with the photo we think about colours variations.

B: What influenced you to start painting murals?

CL: We always drew or made something in relation to art, like photos and music. Once we started to paint in the public space it was really amazing to see people’s reaction. It is always a good excuse to share messages or our opinions and different people can see that, it is outside museums and galleries, it is for all and for the city, and it plays with the architecture. Also you always have a free canvas to practice and to show your work.

B: What do you like/enjoy about painting in public spaces?
CL: We enjoy the opportunity to talk with many people in the streets, we enjoy the city in another way. It is also a chance to know other artists and cities. Each wall is a challenge for yourself and test your patience because are always some kind of difficulty.

Colectivo Licuado 
www.colectivolicuado.com