Art September, 11 2012

Asia’s Tallest Mural by Hendrik Beikirch

Known by his alias ECB the German artist Hendrik Beikirch has created asia’s tallest mural. Situated in Busan/South Korea Beikirch painted a monochromatic image of an elderly local fisherman. The Painting stretches over 70 meters (230 ft.) in height contrasting with the Haeundae i’Park Building by architect Daniel Libeskind in the background. The mural of the working class man represents a significant part of Korea‘s population that has not been affected by the economic growth and until now, lives under very different circumstances compared to their affluent neighbors. The fisherman is staring into an intangible space, his face marked with wrinkles, still wearing long plastic gloves as a sign that there are still men and women like him at this age working for a living. The installation is an important symbol for the extremely fast development of korea and the progression of financial growth within a country that was poor not long ago. The statement written in korean underneath the piece says: ‘Where there is no struggle, there is no strength’.

Very much unlike other artists, Hendrik Beikirch painted the entire installation without of a projector or a sketch on the wall. The project was developed in collaboration with Public Delivery, an organization who has contributed to the promotion of contemporary art throughout Asia and Europe.

Take a look at the impressive artwork in the gallery above.