Artist José Ríos from Jaén will create the largest mural in the world this summer. This could put him in the Guinness Book of Records as the creator of the world’s largest mural.
The municipality of Almuñécar, on Granada’s Costa Tropical, will be the ‘canvas’, where Ríos, thanks to a French property developer, will create an urban artwork of at least 6,000 square metres. With it, he will embellish several tourist apartment buildings on Velilla beach.
Maradona
As the muralist says, the municipality searched the internet for similar works and there are none. So far, the largest mural in the world is about 1,400 square metres. It is the work of Martín Ron and shows an image of footballer Maradona at the start of the 1990 World Cup final in Italy. Moreover, the mural in Almuñécar is expected to be five times larger, earning recognition in the Guinness World Record.
Largest mural in Spain
Ríos already has Spain’s largest mural to his name in Estepona, another Andalucian resort. The work ‘Día de Pesca’ covers six blocks of flats and has an area of 1,000 square metres. That is why a French property developer building luxury homes in Velilla entrusted him with the work.
The 61-year-old artist faces the challenge of embellishing three 12-storey buildings. The flats date from the days of the brick boom and make the view less appealing to tenants of new flats.
Preparatory scaffolding work is expected to begin next week, with painting starting later. ‘If I get into the Guinness Book of Records, I will get more commissions and I am a bit too old to climb a lot of scaffolding,’ he jokes. The artist hopes to finish the mural by the end of June.
Pioneer in street art
José Ríos started doing street art in Spain when the term did not even exist. He started when he was 16 years old, more than 40 years ago. One of the first murals he created was in Madrid. Ríos is also a sculptor and an established artist in his province. Very famous are some of his works with recycled elements, such as the turkey rotundas adorning the University of Jaén or the Iberian Warrior, located on the Cerro de los Lirios, at the entrance to the city from the road to Cordoba. Apart from the city streets, Fernández Ríos also shows his work in exhibition spaces.
His work in Almuñécar, the summer destination of many residents of Ríos’ hometown of Jaén, is undoubtedly the biggest challenge he will face for the time being in terms of scale.
Also read: Madrid´s colourful street art scene
