The story goes that the Zeppelin Whale mural was commissioned by the owner of the building after he saw the artist, Gualicho, working on a heavily trafficked and very dangerous bridge around the corner. At the request of the owner he made his 2007 retro-futurist work with bright colors starring strange human creatures and animals, surrounded by plants and guarded from above by a giant whale protecting her brood.
The first stop on our GraffitiMundo tour, the corner of Zapiola and Jorge Newbery, Colegiales.
"After years painting graffiti, in 2006 the artist Pablo Harymbat adopted the pseudonym “Gualicho”, a name stemming from the spanish verb “to bewitch”, and began elaborating bizarre retro-futurist landscapes.
Fusing organic and industrial forms, Gualicho creates complex interconnected scenes and cities inhabited by ambiguous characters. Drawing on imagery from 1960’s psychedelia, mysticism, folklore, and religious icons, he contemplates the dark inner workings of human nature. His style has also been inspired by his formative influences, from graffiti, skate culture and comics to tattoo art and rock.
Gualicho works primarily with latex and acrylic, and has also created hand painted ceramic pieces, illustrated books and screen prints."
Reference: GraffitiMundo
