Vhils - Carving Life from Cement

When we speak about the medium employed by street artists, we often think about spray cans as a means to bring a piece to life, but Vhils implements very different tools to bring his murals to life. Alexander Farto aka Vhils is a Lisbon born artist who uses chisels, drills, drill bits, and hammers to carve and chisel pieces out of walls to create the expressive and highly detailed faces in his murals.  

In the video below, Vhils talks about his early influence. He describes seeing murals depicting the propaganda of the left wing revolutionary movement in the 70's. Vhils also credits his father, who was a social activist, as influential in his work. The influence of his activist father is palpable in the pieces he creates, as he says:

The faces are big part of my work. They humanize the place. You put a face in a place, people can relate to it. Carving a wall, scratching a wall with the face of a person; it's kind of poetic in the sense that people carve their own cities, and cities are carved by the same people.

Vhils speaks about the evolution of his work, which started with graffiti at 13 years old. As his style evolved, he moved to stenciling, but then he thought, "Why should I be one more layer on top of all these layers?" This led him to his current style of carving the walls to produce his realistic portraits. 

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2015 || Photo by Katherine Gomez

Vhills is without a doubt one of my favorite artists. I have been following his work for sometime now. I had the pleasure of seeing his beautiful work while on a street art tour in Rio de Janeiro. Interestingly enough, his art is so subtle that you can miss it amidst all the visually loud street art competing for your attention. It wasn't until Nina pointed out the beautiful portrait on the side of a modest apartment building near the metro station - Estação Siqueira Campos in Rio de Janeiro. At that moment, I was struck by the emotion on this face looking back at me. Then I stepped back to appreciate that every detail on this face is composed of a carving on the wall. You just can't help but appreciate the intensity of the labor. The piece is unassuming, yet its features are gentle and its detailing powerful.

Hope you enjoy the video and the work of Vhils!