Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto (b. 1987) has been interacting visually with the urban environment under the name of Vhils since his days as a prolific graffiti writer in the early-to-mid 2000s.

His groundbreaking bas-relief carving technique – which forms the basis of the Scratching the Surface project and was first presented to the public at the VSP group exhibition in Lisbon in 2007 and at the Cans Festival in London the following year –, has been hailed as one of the most compelling approaches to art created in the streets in the last decade.

Vhils

Portuguese

Recognised for their skill at creating connections between painting and sculpture in urban settings, they adopt a thoroughly innovative approach in their artistic fusions. A balanced combination of classical art and the most contemporary urban art can be identified in their work. From the outset PichiAvo shunned artistic individuality, joining forces to create an absolutely unique body of work using a conceptually urban idiom, both in the street and studio.

They trained in Fine Art and in Design and met on the graffiti art scene in Valencia, forming the PichiAvo duo in 2007. From that moment they worked on developing joint projects, pursuing an unremitting search for a style of their own. To achieve this they went through various stages as painters, focusing initially on skill and technique until they reached the point of needing to express themselves through what most defines them: graffiti and classical art.

Since 2015 PichiAvo have carried out projects at some of the leading venues in international urban art, including the legendary Houston Bowery Wall in New York (2017), where theirs was the first painting intervention by European artists. In April 2019 they executed the second largest mural in the world in the city of Porto, in collaboration with the celebrated artist Vhils.

PichiAvo’s career has attained artistic recognition, critical acclaim and popularity on an international scale, establishing them among the most prominent street artists on the current urban art scene.