Meet Alex Senna from Waterford Walls

Alex Senna from Waterford Walls, the artist bringing our sponsorship to life. Alex discusses his latest cover and what draws him to street art.

The work of Alex Senna, the Brazillian street artist who has recently been commissioned by the Waterford Walls Project, could, in one sense, be called classical. Like the Old Masters, he meticulously layers paint onto his canvas, lending the image a radiant depth. In his latest artwork, though, located at 194 Ballybeg Square, Waterford just beside SETU, Senna plays with a more modern, localised style, inspired by the resident, Mariam and her family, as well as the house on the figure’s jumper and the skyline of Waterford City.

Born in 1982 in Orlândia, Senna’s work creates vivid expressions of human love, romance, and relationships through youthful black-and-white illustrations. Combining the languages of illustration, comics, and graffiti from the 1990s, he builds a playful, almost poetic narrative, giving his works strong popular appeal. Self-taught, Senna never underwent formal education, leading comics to serve as his textbooks and artists like Moebius, Quino, Charles Burns, David Clowes, Mauricio de Sousa, Walt Disney and Will Eisner as his teachers. Forming his style as a mix of many different approaches and emotions, his favourite themes to explore on city walls are daily life, politics, melancholy, and love. He hopes to evoke a thinking process with his art and allow people to reflect and ponder on all the possible meanings.

His murals, observing human relations loaded with emotional baggage and intertwined with satire, have in recent years lent a cartoon-like look to the streets of São Paulo (and many others). Using symbols taken from the imagination of children – hearts, musical notes, balloons, birds – Senna adds colour to his art which is markedly colourless. Colorblind, Senna works monochromatically. By transposing his sketches to city walls around the globe he ignites urban settings with feelings of love and happiness by exposing his viewers to the intimate lives of his characters. The art’s resonating black and white tones make his messages come across as simple, clear, and straight from the heart. (All the small stories are interconnected, he insists, and if one pays close attention, the threads that link them together come to light.)

Waterford Walls boasts a similar message. A social enterprise that delivers large-scale public artworks and outreach projects, Waterford Walls aims to impact communities through artistic collaborations. Their work engages with communities and students via community and educational outreach workshops all centred around one main goal: connecting diverse people and communities both in Ireland and internationally. Together with supporters, collaborators and volunteers, the team at Waterford Walls exists simply to break down the barriers between art and communities and to celebrate street art as a powerful tool in urban regeneration.

Senna, in many ways, is a perfect fit. His work has exhibited and painted murals in cities in more than 25 countries such as the US, Canada, Mexico, Peru, South Korea, Hong Kong, England, Denmark, Israel, Russia, Holland, France, Italy and Germany among many others. And today, Waterford stands among them with pride. We spoke with Senna to figure out what draws him to street art, and what inspires him to pick up a brush.

1. What do you hope that the general public will get from your street art?

My art is about common people, local issues and local stories. It reflects me and the local context.

2. What advice would you give budding young street artists trying to build a career for themselves?

Don’t give up, trust the process and don’t follow trends.

3. What pieces of work of yours are you most proud of?

My last ones.

4. What inspired you to create this particular piece?

Local context plus my imaginary world.

5. Where has your artwork been published in the media?

Magazines, newspapers, and videos from all over the world.

6. What do you consider your most successful project?

Solo show in the South Korean Contemporary Museum.

7. Where can people follow you and find out more about your work?

My website: www.alexsenna.com.br and @alexsenna at Instagram

Our sponsorship: “We’re delighted to feature some of Alex’s beautiful, thought-provoking work right in our hometown,” Stuart Fitzgerald said of the addition. “Fitzgerald Power’s core identity has always had innovation and creativity at the helm, so to see something so tangibly creative just outside SETU, is really brilliant. We sponsored the piece because we felt it was a prime location for students and young people to learn from Waterford Walls’ stellar work. What better place to capture the young minds of Waterford? We are thrilled to play a tiny part in such a captivating project.

Information about the Waterford Walls Festival, artist announcements and much more can be found at their Linktree here. Alex Senna’s previous work can be found on his Instagram, here.

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