It was bound to happen sometime, but I thought it would happen sooner: I finally bumped into local artist Nuno Costah, who I’ve profiled before on this website for his street art but his main business is as a tattooist.
I spotted Costah at Miradouro da Vitória and was actually in the middle of an event tour, but he was just as personable in person as I’d imagined and I was able to get a couple of pics. (I chose the one I think he’d like the best.) He also gave me some of his art before I had to rush and catch up with the tour, a poster that now lives on a wall in my kitchen.
When I told my sister-in-law about meeting Costah, she didn’t recognize his name. I had to show her his biggest murals on my phone before she registered faint recall. That’s to be expected for street artists, since they generally prefer to be anonymous or rarely show their faces. Costah is one of the exceptions, probably because his main work is in close range with people rather than street painting on the sly. It’s impossible to be anonymous when you spend hours inking bodies.
The street artists don’t make a living from their public art, only commissioned art, so I try to promote them through photography and linking up their websites. And with the volume of construction work going on in the city of Porto, my favorite street art pieces have been disappearing by the month and new ones are popping up all the time.
For more photos of street art in Porto, see my Porto Street Art board on Pinterest:
https://www.pinterest.com/gailatlarge/porto-street-art/
June 21, 2017
Album: Portugal [Summer 2017]
