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V-BOMB HITS ANTWERP DURING SECOND WORLD WAR

No joke.

The story goes that in 1945 and the years before, Antwerp was bombarded with V1 and V2 bombs. The devastation was so severe, that entire streets were wiped from their existence.
If it hadn't been for these bombs, the building we painted on wouldn't have even existed. 

To remember the 75 years it has been since WWII and the liberation of the city of Antwerp, a campaign was set up to emphasize on the fact that we live in peace now, but many people fought hard to get there. The children and adolescents of our age cannot possibly grasp the battles that have been fought back then, and to that end we painted the destruction of a V2-Bomb right where it happened 75 years ago. We mobilized our old veteran (ahem) Toon van Ishoven to paint this smokey pearl.

The pictures speak.

​You can find more info on https://www.antwerpenherdenkt.be or just #antwerpenherdenkt 

Picture
Before we added the paint, the wall looked pretty virgin-esque.

About the artist

Toon Van Ishoven / Artoon is a multi-media artist who turned to murals, basically because, as he said, "in summer it was too to hot work in my studio". He's been exploring diverse media, created set designs for the theater, made audiovisual projections on buildings, works as a graphic designer, but has kept painting all along the way.

 "l love returning to painting every time. Actually i learned it from my father who was a diamond cutter and painted in his spare time. He never taught me: i just learned by watching him. He had the most sharp eyes. Another reason for me to paint outside is to make a statement: i think a lot of contemporary art is over-intellectualized. But i never trust an artist who can't draw."
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

  • 10 days of painting
  • Wall size: H 11.30m x W 14m
  • Acrylics and spray paint
  • A product was applied before the mural was placed, making it possible to remove the mural in a later stage.
  • Location: meistraat 2, 2000 Antwerp.


Visit this artwork with Street Art Cities:
https://antwerp.streetartcities.com/artworks/22496



Our thanks go out to everyone who made this possible:
The city of Antwerp and it's top team - Gerken Hoogwerkers - App All Remove - Street art Antwerpen - The building owners and employees of Het Paleis/De Stadsschouwburg.