Sponk paints the Tupac column in the entrance area of the ‘Marta’ art museum in Herford

It finally worked! In April 2019, I designed the Tupac column in front of the Marta in Herford with colourful graffiti lettering. I’d had my eye on the Museum of Art, Architecture and Design since the beginning of my artistic career in Herford. I wanted to exhibit my art there one day. With the design of the large advertising pillar in the entrance area of the Marta, I am getting closer to realising this dream. Now I’m standing right in front of the door and knocking with my graffiti art.

With my artwork, I thematically integrate myself into the overall picture of the entrance area. I covered the four metre high and four metre circumference concrete column with a realistic brick structure. I painted a total of 688 individual bricks using a graffiti airbrush stencil technique. With this depiction, I took my cue from the architecture of the Canadian-American star architect Frank Gehry, who gave the museum its striking brick look in 2005. I sprayed the lettering ‘MARTA’ around the column. The individual letters form a colour gradient. I also wanted to pay tribute to the artwork of the Italian artist Paolo Chiasera with my work. Just like the famous American rap musician Tupac Amaru Shakur, who was shot dead in Las Vegas in 1996, I pierced my graffiti style with several bullets. But instead of blood, colour splashed out of the wounds.

In the following video series, I show how I created my graffiti artwork over the course of seven days: