Hercules and Achelous

Painted at Litfass, Ostertorsteinweg 22 28203 Bremen, Germany, 2024

250 x 375cm Hand-cut stencil, spray painted wall.

The concept behind Litfass is - bar meets art. They say on their online gallery ‘The days when advertising adorned our advertising walls are long gone!’ By this they mean they make their walls available to artists who use their ideas and their very own style to decorate the rooms. Since 2003 Litfass has welcomed scores of artists to paint, install and warp the walls. Each time an artist creates a piece the bar puts on an ‘enthüllung' or unveiling event for the artist, with guest speakers and huge crowds of art lovers. Truly a unique platform in the world of street art and a great chance to see some inspiring works. D!VE was inspired by one of these works and eventually brought his own shattered statue stencils to the room.

Destruction, deconstructed is an ongoing series of shattered historical statues. These figures represent societies at their cultural peak, great Roman & Greek philosophers, warriors and Gods frozen in time emphasise the power of humanity. The fractured statues represent today’s fractured society. All that we know is that we know nothing.

Here you see a shattered statue of Hercules fighting Achelous. Only this in representation the artist has spray painted ‘No More Heroes’ across the chest of Hercules and shattered the whole thing into 487 pieces. 

D!VE’s artistic practise calls on many different disciplines to create these images, but they are always realised in the end as stencils. The artists approach to creating work comes from his belief in the idea of ‘Doing the best you can with what you have’. The limitations of working with stencils are what attracted the artist to the discipline. colour, contrast and even the paper holding together. When all you have is a piece of paper, a Stanley blade and a can of spray paint, how intricate you can make the work is a testament to overcoming limitations. 

That is why, for this piece DIVE chose the depiction of Hercules fighting Achelous. The statue is known for its intricate details, from the muscular forms of the combatants to the scales on the snake, it presented an opportunity to create a highly detailed piece.