Anamorphic Graffiti Murals That Leap Off the Wall by Portuguese Artist Odeith

Odeith was born in 1976, in Damaia, Portugal.  He held a spray can for the first time in the mid 1980’s, but it was in the 1990’s, when graffiti grew throughout Portugal.  The artist’s fir experiences were sketched on street walls and train tracks and so the passion he had always shown for drawing had a newly found purpose and began evolving.  Not long after, came the opportunity to paint large scale murals in Damaia, Carcavelos and in many social housing neighbourhoods, such as Cova da Moura, 6 de Maio, and Santa Filomena.

Odeith showed a special interest in perspective and shading, in an obscure art style, which he later called “sombre 3D”.  He is best known for his anamorphic graffiti.  When viewed from a specific vantage point the artwork comes to life and seems to leap off the walls.  In 2005 he was internationally recognized for his groundbreaking incursions in the anamorphic artfield, standing out for his compositions created in perspective and painted in different surfaces, such as 90 degrees corners or from the wall to the floor, creating an optical illusion effect.  In 2008, he decided to close his tattoo studio (which he opened in 1999) and moved to London.  In Lisbon, painting was his main interest, having created large scale mural for maor national and international enterprises such as the London Shell, Kingsmill, the Coco-Cola Company, Estradas de Portugal, Samsung, Sport Lisboa e Benfica (football club) and several Portuguese city halls such as Camara Municipal de Lisboa and Camara Municipal de Oeiras, amongst others.

 

Odeith says “I left school at the age of 15 and never had art lessons.  I was kind of tired of the conventional regular 3D letters so I was always searching for something original, I got my first leg from one letter coming out of the wall.  Since then, I’ve always been trying to reach a new level.  If you see the first ones you can see that was something was growing as the years passed.   I think everyone is capable of anything – you just really need to want to do it.  It takes a lot of time to reach a higher level of perfection.  Spray paint to a lot of artists may be a big headache, to know how to get the quality you desire.  Never quit your dreams if you’re a dreamer.  Sometimes it may take a few years to earn credibility.”