Two frescoes from an Auvergne village in the running to be among the 50 most beautiful of 2024

Two frescoes from a village in Auvergne, Aurec-sur-Loire, are in the running to win the title of most beautiful fresco of the year 2024. This international competition is organized by the Street Art Cities website.

Two frescoes created on the walls of a village in Haute-Loire compete in an international competition, organized by the Street Art Cities website. This is the fresco “Voyages immobiles” by Rémi Tournier, which competes in the best fresco of the year 2024 category. That of Wild Drawing, produced on the Tulipes building, is in a new category: “The choice artists.”

A great spotlight for the town of Aurec-sur-Loire, which highlights Street Art every year during the Dyeing Festival. Mayor Claude Vial (SE) welcomes this recognition for the culture of his city: “In recent years, there was a French selection on which we were present. Last year, we had 2 frescoes selected in the 50 best. This time it’s not just French, I think there are 29 countries participating. The selection totally escapes us, it’s undoubtedly another level, it’s a confrontation with international artists.” No application submitted, but years of work to bring in artists have allowed the municipality to stand out: “We have existed now for years through our festival. We still have renowned and talented artists so there is undoubtedly particular attention to the town of Aurec, but we are not applying at all.”

“Culture helps us live and breathe”welcomes Claude Vial. “There is also the fact of beautifying the city, then offering a way of looking at things, of getting people to think through techniques, artistic fields, painting, sculpture, street art… ” And the walls are adorned with a thousand colors: “Every year we create 6 new frescoes, but there were already some before. There are perhaps between 20 and 30. We renew, so there are some that disappear after a year, 2 years, 3 years. We erase them, we do something else on top of them. There are also frescoes by muralists, which is a different technique, it’s not street art. In the room called the Dyeing Room, there are already around twenty frescoes in addition to those I am mentioning.”

If these frescoes are now an integral part of the heritage of Aurec-sur-Loire, the inhabitants were not so easily convinced: “At the start, it was mixed. Some opponents protested and even said “We are going to spray paint the walls of Aurec!” In practice, the residents, at first, saw that these were artists who really had technique. was not about drippings thrown on a wall. We bring in artists who have different working techniques. There is a real graphic quality too, even messages to which we can be more or less sensitive about the environment. on the difference… We moved on to departure of people intrigued or even hostile to membership. I believe that the vast majority of residents see themselves in the work that is being done. Now people talk about it as their street art, as if they were at the initiative. and show it to their loved ones who come to visit.”

A reputation also synonymous with tourist attendance: “It brings notoriety to the city, we see visitors from everywhere. We meet people who come from far away. There are people who, obviously, practice tourism linked to that. They come to both discover the Loire gorges and spend a day or two with us to photograph the frescoes at the right times with the right sun or to see them several times. When we search on networks or the Internet, we see that it contributes to a positive image of the city,” welcomes Claude Vial.

Rémi Tournier is the artist behind the “Voyages Immobiles” fresco.

He was contacted by the town hall for the Dyeing Festival. “As an artist, we have great freedom of action within the framework of a street art festival, nothing to do with an order. I asked them what was around and it’s close to the college, a school, so there are families passing through. I have been working quite a bit for some time on the notion of accumulation in my visuals. For a while, I had an image in my head of a teenager sitting in the middle of a pile of books, with a fairly strong contrast between the contemporary side of the child in synthetic jogging pants and books that seem to come out of a attic. We can look at this fresco from anywhere, the little girl will look at us.” Rémi devoted around ten days to the creation of this work. “With the weather, it was a bit complex. The background with the book scene is still quite busy. It took me quite a while. It is a painting that is done with a brush. No bomb!”

But then, why “Voyages Immobiles”? “I almost had the title before the image in my head, this notion of a still journey. What strikes me a little in society is the fact that we have the feeling that if we don’t go far, if we don’t escape by transport, we are a bit of a “looser”. Sometimes it’s much richer to go to your neighbor’s house. We also have a gold mine around us. With the book, we also have the notion of a relationship with the object which tends to be lost in the all-digital era”explains the artist. He is proud of this unexpected selection: “It’s still a media specialized in street art and I didn’t necessarily expect to be selected. It’s quite pleasant. I was nominated for October Murals through this site. I sent absolutely nothing and was ranked 6th. Only the top 3 of each month are automatically selected into the top 50 of the year. So 14 frescoes are missing, they chose me to make up, let’s say.”

Rémi Tournier began his career as an artist with graffiti lettering in 2007. “Before that, I was a quality engineer. I did a lot of graffiti in Toulouse and little by little, with a childhood friend, we formed a duo called SISMIKAZOT. It lasted 12 years. We were much better known than I am alone”. He restarts his solo career in 2021: “I made a little more than 150 large-scale walls with my partner then I started again with an identity which is not necessarily very distant but which is still a little more personal, particularly in the subjects that I addresses. I love painting walls, it’s really my playground.” These two works were created during the last Dyeing Festival, in September 2024. Voting is open until January 25. To vote, go to the Street Art Cities website.