“Tilsammen” by TELMO
With the 12th year of ‘Out in the Open’ Belgian SPEAR and Dutch TELMO has just finished two new murals in Aalborg, Denmark.
“Tilsammen” literally carries the sense of “to together”, which makes sense when thinking of it as things being added up or gathered into a whole. Going towards being together.” -Telmo
For the last 13 years TELMO has been part of the Duo TELMO MIEL, world-renowned for their gigantic surrealistic murals.
Famous worldwide for his incredible attention to detail featuring playful abstractions of reality, the artist aims to inspire the viewer to approach subjects from new perspectives – layer upon layer.
Recent paintings contain playfulness in abstraction of reality, attempting to make the viewer see subjects with a different eye; Growing into using multiple images, layered over one another. By cutting away a top layer, another comes forward to complete the design. This provides a convenient abstraction, but the intend is more so to create a sort of marriage between figurative parts. Pieces that weren’t normally seen as one, but now complete each other in weird and beautiful ways.
“From Tithe to Taxes” by SPEAR
In the 16th century, Tiendeladen served as a central storage facility for the natural goods that farmers delivered as tithe – a tax to the church paid in the form of crops. This cultural and functional history is a vital source of inspiration for SPEAR, who reactivates the site’s significance through layers of symbolism, visual references, and narrative composition.
The mural functions as a kind of temporal membrane – an artistic meeting point where the structures and rituals of the past are reinterpreted through a contemporary lens. With precision in detail, sensitivity in texture, and a strong sense of compositional balance, SPEAR stages history with a visual poetry that invites reflection and rediscovery, bringing history into a powerful contemporary expression.
SPEAR is known for his distinctive artistic practice, where classical painting techniques merge with a raw, urban aesthetic, bringing classical painting into contemporary.
By drawing on the technical mastery of the old masters and anchoring it within contemporary visual culture, he creates works that balance the historically rooted with the present, often manifested in monumental murals.
This artistic dialogue between past and present is particularly evident in the current work, which is based on the historical context of Tiendeladen in Aalborg.
“This mural was created on Tiendeladen in Aalborg, a historic tithe barn where the Church once collected taxes from farmers. By painting directly on this site, I want to update and expand on the conversation about taxation and its role in society today. One side of the mural shows a hand secretly taking grain from a nearly empty sack beneath dead flowers, symbolizing opacity, misuse of resources, and erosion of trust. The other side features a transparent jar pouring out grain, with flourishing flowers above it, this jar is a direct metaphor for openness and transparent management of public resources, nurturing a thriving democracy.” – Spear
Photo credits: Fleron Fotografi
