Rizoma Gallery Street Art Festival

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Teddy Baden in Falköping, Sweden

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As is often the case we usually take many more photographs that we have time to process or upload. Often if we miss a window we don’t always have the time to go back and catch up as there is always some new project, event/street art or mural piece to photograph and just not enough hours in the day.On other occasions, we have worked the photographs and the blog post ends up stuck in draft mode while we either wait to capture a photograph of the finished wall or perhaps a better final image that we are happy with - one where the light is better or there are no cars parked in front of the wall is is often the case.Looking back we have realized there a number of such unpublished posts and we are currently working or way through some of these draft posts to get them online.After a flying visit to Berlin we jumped on a plane to Sweden which was a first for us - to check out the Rizoma Galleries' street art festival in the town of Falköping. We flew into Gothenburg and caught a two-hour train from the city centre to Falköping. The Rizoma gallery was set up in 2016 as a space to host art exhibitions, workshops, gigs, events, film screenings, talks, and a street art festival.The week we traveled to Falköping was the second edition of the festival and with the gallery having strong connections with Mexico collective Board Drippers a number of Mexican street artists were invited to paint at the festival. As well as the Mexican and local artists we caught up with London stencil artist Teddy Baden.Post-Olympic Games and the Hackney Wick we once loved has changed beyond recognition. Large sways of low-level industrial units and spaces occupied by the area's artists have been razed to the ground. Generic high rise developments are springing up, replacing many of these spaces with equally high prices that are far beyond what not just artists but many Londoners can afford to pay.Baden is still living and working from his studio in Hackney Wick, but like many of the artists being priced out of that neighbourhood, he is making plans for the future and looking beyond Hackney Wick.Along with a former resident and another artist they are putting plans in motion to build an international artist residency program in a unique space in the Swedish countryside - an hour outside Falköping.Baden was in town during our visit and was one of the artists invited to paint a mural as part of the Rizoma Galleries street art festival. We caught up with Baden over two days as he worked on an electrical building - relocating all four sides of the building using large scale stencils featuring some of his signature dog characters. Check out the collection of images of the artist at work below on a mural he has called "Even Superheroes Get Tired".Teddy Baden stenciling his signature on his finished 'Even Superheroes Get Tired' mural in Falköping, Sweden.Painting his mural in a residential part of the city, saw a number of the local kids stopping by each day after school to watch Baden working on his colorful mural.Mural complete it was time for a beer or two but first a few selfies!!Hookedblog on Instagram — @Hookedblog Teddy Baden on Instagram — @teddybaden Rizoma Gelleri on Instagram — @rizomagalleri Find Hookedblog on — Facebook