Mayor Ras J. Baraka and Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa announced on Wednesday at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s Victoria Theater that the City and Portugal will partner to create five murals by Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto (known as VHILS) with one mural in each of Newark’s wards in a collaboration with the Newark Museum and local arts organizations. 

The mural project is entitled “Scratching the Surface,” and is designed to be a workshop for the City’s arts community, enabling the local arts scene to connect with this world-class street artist. The artist will hold workshops on how he creates his stencil-based art. The project is scheduled to begin in mid-November. “Scratching the Surface” is the initial Cultural Exchange Program for Artists structured under the Mayor’s Office of Arts, Cultural Development, and Tourism.

“The City of Newark and the great nation of Portugal enjoy many ties, and the arts is one of the greatest such links. We are now expanding those ties by uniting as two great communities to bring the power of modern art to all of our wards, with these mural projects by Alexandre Farto. These murals will enable Newark artists to work with a world-class modern arts figure on projects that will have an immense and lasting visual impact on our City. They will add to the beauty of Newark, our luster to visitors, and our role as a center for learning and the arts. We are privileged to welcome President Rebelo de Sousa and thank Alexandre Farto for their commitment to Newark, and our Portuguese and larger communities,” Mayor Baraka said.

Born in 1987, Mr. Farto developed a unique visual language based on the removal of the surface layers of walls and other media, often by cutting through multiple layers of advertising posters to form a new image, often using stenciling, which became his signature style. His artistic name “VHILS,” pronounced “veels,” has no meaning, but simply uses letters that are his favorites.

Mr. Farto’s artwork is regarded as revolutionary in stencil technique for his use ofunuual tools. He uses sometimes old papers, worn-out posters, wood panels, brick walls, and attacks them with chisels, jackhammers, acid, and even tiny explosives to place his stencils on the wall.

‍