Biography

Born in 1992, in Portugal, HUARIU became fascinated with "graffiti" at a very young age, which led him to pick up a spray can for the first time at the age of 10. He then started by photographing all the graffiti he could find, and replicating them on paper, to the point where he absorbed enough information to start creating his own graffiti style. At age 15, he stopped painting and started skateboarding. In his early twenties, a friend who already did commissioned artwork and murals, asked him if he was interested in helping him. HUARIU started out as an apprentice, and quickly started getting back into making art. At this time, he developed his characteristic style, using only black and white and various combinations of straight lines. Due to his fascination with different cultures, HUARIU uses photographs of Aboriginal, Arab, Hindu, Buddhist, African people, among others, as inspiration for its murals. His work focuses on conveying beauty, emotion and mystery. When asked what any of his murals mean, HUARIU replies - "They mean absolutely nothing, they are like a flower, the crashing of waves, a melody played by a pianist, they are to be appreciated with the heart."

 

"HUARIU" is meant as a subtle provocation", states the artist. "It is a device that perhaps leads someone to question what is rarely questioned. "Who am I?"

We all build our identity through others, never through ourselves. As soon as we are born we are loved and we get the sense of ​​being wanted, or we were rejected and we got the idea of ​​being bad, unwanted, unworthy. And as we grow, our identity is formed through all these everyday experiences. Our name is given to us by someone else. Our nationality, our race, all these concepts were given to us by someone else. That's why our identity is so fragile, so easily disturbed by any opinion that contradicts another opinion already registered in our identity. We know who others think we are, but we don't know who we really are. This is the purpose of the name HUARIU. Questioning something that is never questioned, so that we can find what lies beyond our ego."