Basket of Nean, the street artist in mosaics

This post is also available in: Español (Spanish)

The Spanish streets have a new look thanks to the art of Basket of Nean

An important tip for your next trip to Madrid is to keep your eyes out and your attention focused on the outdoor spaces of the city, as you are likely to come across the works of Basket of Nean.

He is an artist from Barcelona who uses the walls and surfaces of Madrid as his canvases. Thus, you may encounter mysterious characters of rounded shapes, wide-kept eyes, and pixelated bodies on your next visit.

In addition, he has a very distinctive personal stamp, as one of its characters is related to basketball (balls and baskets converted into characters). He discovered the passion to intervene in the streets more than a year ago; which gave him great creative freedom to capture the topics that matter to him.

Basket of Nean all over Madrid

For example, among his last interventions his piece in San Simón street, in the Madrid neighborhood of Lavapiés stands out. There, next to the plaque with the name of the street, he installed a mosaic of more than 800 pieces that makes the face of Dr. Fernando Simón, who is a spokesman of the Ministry of Health against the coronavirus pandemic in Spain.

We barely know his identity, since the artist states: “I want to maintain my anonymity like Banksy, because it gives me the freedom to create. I like that people don’t have me identified, nor do my parents know what I’m doing.”

Moreover, his aim is to use the power of urban art to change a city: “I do not intend to send any concrete message, nor do I want to do political action. I like to make the neighborhood better,” he says.

Basket of Nean also took his art to other places. From nearby Alcorcón to other cities such as Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona, Mazarrón, Luanco, Benidorm, etc. He also captures the figure of other popular culture characters. For example Vincent Van Gogh, Bart Simpson, Baby Yoda, Goku, among others.

Lastly, these are some of his Basket pieces, which he states: “I find it basic that a city has urban artists creating and contributing to that culture, using their own city as a canvas.” Finally, another artist who made several cities of the world his own is Invader. Check out the best works by the French artist.

This post is also available in: Español (Spanish)