Nuno Viegas
Nuno Viegas, also known as Metis, is a Portuguese artist born in Faro (1985) and raised in Quarteira. Founder of the art collective Policromia Crew, he started his artistic journey with graffiti in 1999. After completing his studies in Visual Arts at the University of Algarve, he moved to Rotterdam in the Netherlands (2014) where he discovered a new artistic identity and began to develop his painting; strongly influenced by graffiti and the hip-hop subculture.
1- What themes or artists inspire you ?
As a theme graffiti is noticeably my focus point and biggest inspiration. When it comes to artists there a lot of different creators who inspire me from oldschool graffiti writers like Seen to the more recent crews like 1UP. But it goes all the way from photographers like Philip Halsman to Asger Carlsen or the performative artist Francis Alys. There are a lot of artists from all different areas who somehow inspire me. it would take a long list to name them all. When it comes to urban contemporary art I also look up to a lot of artists but I keep a close look to Telmo Miel and Fanakapan’s work.
2- Which city attracts you particularly for its creative atmosphere ?
Rotterdam! It was the first city I noticed a lot of people making a living out of their own creativity which lead me to believe that this would be possible for me and triggered my will to be a full time artist.
3- What is the biggest challenge you faced during your career ?
Only tecnhical challenges in my productions. Like achieving very smooth fades with acrylic paintings on canvas using brushes. Still working on this challenge.
4- What are your projects for the coming months ?
A featuring in the solo show by Fanakapan in London. “Live at the Museum” at Urban Nation Berlin. Pow Wow at Rotterdam. Hopefully Art Basel Miami.
5- If you were a film, it would be…
Hard to say... Maybe “Lords of Dogtown” would work as a good parallel in a way. That is what comes to my mind at the moment.
@NextStreet Gallery
