#nilsrva

A 2017 work by Nils Westergard in Richmond, VA.

In 2017 @Medium called the music scene of Richmond, Virginia "criminally underrated" and after listing a spectrum of diverse talent to come from the city they turned their attention to local producer Bradford Caudle, aka Ohbliv, and his pause-tape beginnings. At that point @Ohbliv was already responsible for 44 @Bandcamp releases. In 2018 @FlyAnakin walked away from a time consuming and life draining job and began to focus on writing and recording. Within a couple of weeks he had about 75% of an album ready and working with Ohbliv he had his first full album ready within another month. Richmond artist Nils Westergard says that after the "Backyard Boogie" album was released he had it on a near-constant loop in his studio, and by Fall of 2018 Nils had painted the pair on this W Clay St wall.  @nilsrva/

Work by Nils Westergard for the 2015 edition of the Richmond Mural Project.

A 2013 work by Nils Westergard still running in The Fan neighborhood in Richmond, VA.

Nomadic Belgian-American artist based in Richmond, Virginia, Nils Westergard has been creating stencil art for about a decade. @GraffitiStreet reports that it's Westergard's "history of theatrical set painting and graffiti shenanigans" that led him to adapt his stencil imagery to large-scale murals, and while his large black and white portraits have a painterly quality, the complex layered graphic work reflects that history. Westergard told @I_Support_Street_Art "I’ve realized how important my friends are to my life.... So I’ve been painting friends that are always around, friends I meet for short periods, and everything in between.” However, while much of his portrait work is of acquaintances, he told me this painting of Poochie was someone he hardly knew but fit a clear concept he had for the wall. Painted in 2018 this portrait is on Seaton St in the Los Angeles Arts District for @TheContainerYard.  @nilsrva/

Connected with @CO_labs and @ZynderiaStudios by @JasonOstro, curator of Gabba Arts District where he also painted a mural, Nils Westergard painted his first work in Los Angeles in 2017—this captivating portrait of @isabellekeegan on Naud St at the edge of Chinatown. Instead of the usual aerosol used by most urban artists COlabs says Nils' "haunting yet stunning photorealistic greyscale portraiture" is created using eco-friendly acrylic and paint rollers. They go on to say "his signature drip style throughout, a technique which lends an ethereal, otherworldly quality to the work" is achieved by beginning with the blacks and dark shades then proceeding to the lighter tones.  @nilsrva/

‘Poochie With Tulips’ Mural by Nils Westergard in Los Angeles.

‘Marisa In Flux’ Recent Nils Westergard mural in East Hollywood.