Few artists in recent memory have generated more interest than the young Spanish muralist and fine artist from Barcelona ARYZ. Everyone, including fellow artists, want to see what he will do next ... with a style and detailed texture rarely seen on six stories of concrete.

“When I started painting,” ARYZ told Juxtapoz Magazine, “my goal in life was to paint together with the writers of my village. After one year I was already painting with them. I’ve reached much more than I could have ever imagined when I started. I met a lot of the guys that I saw in graffiti magazines and that I admired. I even had the chance to speak with some of them; so I think everything that happens from now on will  be just great and more than I ever could have imagined.”

ARYZ has painted on walls all over the world from Denmark to Poland to Reunion Island. When asked if he believed that his skill was a gift, ARYNZ replied:

“I don’t see the work I do as a gift. In fact, I believe that if someone would consider it a gift, it would be even more egotistic. It would mean that we think we are giving something valuable or special to society. C’mon! It’s just a layer of paint on a shitty surface. Of course it takes time, but that doesn’t guarantee it’s going to be good, and even less, it doesn’t guarantee that it will be appreciated by others.”

Unlike other graffiti artists who work at the same scale, ARYZ does not use a projector, and he utilizes regular house paint on his biggest murals. Art and technology are in his blood - his mother is a painter and his father is a music engineer who studied at Stanford University.

“On my mother’s side, everyone works on things that require creativity and dedication, I have uncles involved in carpentry, art restoration, gilding, horse faring, painting and scientific research. All of them have a lot of talent, and they are very good in what they do.”  

ARYZ doesn’t like labels, and he is particularly uncomfortable calling his work graffiti or “street art,” preferring the term “contemporary muralism.”

“Graffiti is a big movement with a lot of history that I respect very much. I want to be very careful in using that word for respect to the movement. In Spain, the graffiti movement started form styles that were arriving from GErmany and France. So the graffiti that reached here in Spain was a bit removed form what initially developed in New York. I believe the ideas and values became much more radicalized. Styles were taken to new dimensions and directions. We have to be careful on naming these ramifications “graffiti” as a respect for the original movement... What I can say about this trendy festival and project phenomenon is that it has evolved around “muralism,” and people tend to confuse size with quality. With the excuse of this trend, a number of people that were not doing interesting work in smaller scale have moved to  this big scale without doing anything interesting either.”

Aryz also works on a smaller scale, painting on ca,vas and drawing on paper. When asked about the different mediums he said:

“When you paint a big building you already have a surface that stands for itself before you paint. The location gives to it a personality, and it normally has a lot elements that makes it special. On the other hand a white piece of paper is an empty space without any context and personality. You have to  fill it in a way that it should stand for itself anywhere. This makes it way more difficult to paint than a big wall.”

For more information go to Aryz.es.