ROA – The street art activist.

Roa, a hugely talented Belgian street artist from Ghent, is renowned for his giant black and white animal street art. Roa started off in the street art scene painting animals on abandoned buildings and warehouses in the isolated industrial areas of his hometown. Today, Roa’s animals may be found slumbering on the sides of semi derilict buildings and peering out from shop shutters in citiy streets all accross the world from New York to Berlin and Warsaw to Paris.

The artist has visited London a couple of times, each time leaving his mark. His animals can be seen hibernating across the cracks of walls in Shoreditch and Brick Lane.  The works often take many hours to paint due to the huge scale and highly intricate nature of ROA’s street art. Consequently, most of his pieces are done with permission which means that his work usually sticks around on the street for a while (notwithstanding the efforts of local London Councils).
More recently ROA discovered the enchanted sunlight that warms the winter earthen hues of central Mexico, at the invitation of Gonzalo Alvarez of Mamutt Arte. “I love to integrate the native animals of the country I visit,” he explains talking about the armadillo, buzzards, raccoon, anteater, and fighting cock completed in the metropolis Mexico City. Part naturalist and part social activist, ROA gives centre stage to the underdogs of the natural world as if to elevate their status among the lions and peacocks of the planet.

Source: Roa