SNIK has completed Verdure on a 14-metre wall in Aalborg, Denmark, for KIRK Gallery’s Out in the Open project. The artist duo describes figures entwined with abundant growth, bringing their hand-cut stencil work together with layers of colour and texture painted directly onto the wall.
The composition places the precision of the stencilled figures alongside more organic marks, with colour and texture built both behind and in front of them. For SNIK, that meeting of controlled edges and looser painting is central to the work. They describe Verdure as an exploration of people’s relationship with nature, particularly its capacity to keep growing through the built environment.
Working at this scale changed the decisions available to them. In the studio, the duo could return to an image and rework a passage; facing the Aalborg wall, they had to commit to those choices as they painted. SNIK says the mural brings together developments in their practice over the past year. Despite the size of the surface, they remained committed to cutting their stencils by hand.
The artists also cite Danish folklore as an influence, without tying the mural to a particular tale. Their interest lies in making a work that belongs to the place where people will encounter it every day. “A reminder to let it grow,” is how they put the thought behind Verdure.
KIRK Gallery invited SNIK to make the mural as part of Out in the Open, its project bringing large-scale works into Aalborg’s streets. The duo had previously presented studio works connected to murals in France, Germany and Italy at the gallery’s Urban Stories exhibition. Verdure takes their stencil process back outdoors, where the painted layers and figures can be seen at the scale of the wall. KIRK Gallery offers guided tours and a self-guided walk for visitors exploring the city’s murals.
Images via @snikarts on Instagram.