Followers of my occasional blog will know that I have an interest in street art, particularly around Lagos (in Portugal, not the Nigerian one). In conjunction with the local council, LAC (Lagos’ arts laboratory) invites artists from around Europe to join local artists in painting walls around the town. They also paint the inside of the old town jail which happens to be LAC’s HQ.
Each year I produce articles for the Western Algarve’s English language monthly magazine, Tomorrow, and will reproduce the images here, with perhaps a few extra, starting with the feature on Italian artist Mister Thoms who produced this year’s most spectacular piece of street art. It was created over 4 days using a cherry picker, brushes, paint rollers and a lot of paint! His website is well worth a visit: www.thoms.it
Here are some shots taken whilst he was working.
Mister Thoms from Rome (real name Diego Della Posta) has been producing urban art for 20 years and, true to the Italian stereotype, he passed the time happily singing operatic arias as he applied the paint through the heat of the day. Not everyone is delighted with the transformation; one neighbour complained that she had to look at it every day, but most view it as an improvement on a blank wall covered in scrawled “tags” (signatures) as low grade graffiti is all too common in Portugal.
The finished masterpiece entitled “Don’t Take the Bait” makes a statement about the dangers of social media and can be viewed on the side of a building close to Os Lambertos restaurant in the new town.
Further info: LAC – Laboratório de Actividades Criativas Tel 00351 282 084 959
Rua Largo do Convento de Nossa Sra. Da Glória (the old jail), 8600-660 Lagos
The Duck House 
Can’t match the colour of the sky!
Not surprisingly, the fish is underwater 🙂