FB

More street art on the streets of Florence. From Friday 27 to Sunday 29 April, the Australian artist Stormie Mills created a ‘mural’ at the headquarters of the Società Canottieri di Firenze, via di Villamagna 41. This event, ‘labelled’ Florence Biennale - International Exhibition of Contemporary Art, is also in close connection with the 82nd International Handicrafts Exhibition in Florence, which took place at the Fortezza da Basso until Tuesday 1 May 2018, and is part of the ‘Florence Street Art - Art Can Change the World’ project, which is being organised in collaboration with the Florence City Council, Firenze Fiera and the Street Levels Gallery. The inauguration of the mural, entitled The Lost Rowing, took place on Monday 30 April, at 11.30 a.m., in the presence, in addition to the author Stormie Mills, the Councillor for Sport of the Municipality of Florence, Andrea Vannucci, the Municipal Councillor Cosimo Guccione, the representative of District 3 Letizia Perini, Giancarlo Tarchi Councillor of the Florence Rowing Club and a representative of the Rossini Philharmonic.

The mural of Stormie Mills: A Lost Gaint in Florence

Australian street artist Stormie Mills has created a mural in Italy for the first time and chose Florence for this occasion. After discussing with the Commune of Florence, the artist decided to paint The Lost giant, sitting inside a small boat that appears to be adrift, without rudder or oars.

The artist's career began in Australian cities where, since 1984, he has given voice to the lost souls of the suburbs with a collection of characters inspired by and deeply connected to the street. His creative journey began in the forgotten corners of our cities, the abandoned buildings and streets became his medium to paint. As his art has developed, Stormie's iconic characters have made their way into the galleries and homes of collectors in Australia and around the world. Stormie's colour palette is distinctly monochromatic. Black represents dirt, white symbolises erasures, grey is drawn from the urban landscape and silver is connected to the dream world. The works draw on a deep sense of isolation and yet each character seems to carry a message of hope. These opposing elements in Stormie's practice imbue his characters with a palpable presence and humanity. And when art captures the tenderness of the human condition, people connect with it.

Therefore, his series of iconic ‘Lost Giant’ was born - an exciting global initiative promoted by the artist that aims to see his larger-than-life characters painted in as many cities around the world as possible. The idea of the ‘Lost Giants’ is inspired by a personal moment in the artist's life when he found himself lost at the age of 16, wandering in places he had never seen before. Travelling alone to cities like New York and London at a young age, Stormie perceived the grandeur of the urban landscape where everything seemed larger than life itself.

The feeling of being lost within what he perceived as an oversized urban landscape led Stormie to channel his feelings into these giant characters that roam the city. Each Lost Giant plays its own role, as part of a larger narrative that reflects the unique qualities of the community to which it belongs and which becomes its home. One by one the ‘giants’ of Stormie travel the world telling a story, of how being lost can also help one find oneself.