MURAL BY KREEMOS ON BUTCHER'S LANE
MURAL BY KREEMOS ON BUTCHER'S LANE OFF NEWGATE STREET [WATERFORD WALLS]
The "Lost in a Dream" Mural: A Juxtaposition of Modern Art and Medieval History
The mural by the Russian artist KREEMOS is a striking piece of contemporary street art, notable for its geometric style and its location in one of Waterford City's most historically layered districts. It serves as a powerful example of the Waterford Walls Festival's mission to transform urban decay with vibrant art, juxtaposing the city's ancient past with its modern cultural energy.
The Art and the Artist
The artwork, often referred to by the phrase visible within its design, "Lost in a dream," is the creation of KREEMOS, a young artist, graphic designer, and illustrator from Russia.
Style and Imagery: The mural employs an industrially looking puzzle aesthetic, utilizing bold, geometric shapes and a vibrant color palette of greens, teals, and purples. It features figures—including a distinct face and a human torso—over which is perched a lapwing, a bird of significant personal interest to the person describing the piece.
Creative Context: One of the mural's most ingenious features is its creative integration of the site's environment. The color scheme is deliberately used to camouflage and mask the blue garbage bins at the base of the wall, turning a piece of municipal infrastructure into a harmonious element of the artwork.
Contextual Confusion: While initial general guides sometimes vaguely placed KREEMOS's piece near Stephens Street, its definitive location has been established by a landmark-based photograph.
The Historical Location: Butcher's Lane and Newgate Street
The mural is situated on the rear wall of a large, seemingly long-closed pub building, located on Butcher's Lane, which runs just off Newgate Street. This specific building is also a canvas for another major festival piece:
The Landmark: The main side wall of the pub features the immense and highly recognizable "Electric Fury" mural, a roaring tiger painted by South African artist Sonny Sundancer in August 2017 for the Waterford Walls Festival. Historical records suggest the pub building was formerly known as Bobby's Bar, a local establishment located at 15 Newgate Street.
The Medieval Connection: The location on Newgate Street embeds the mural in Waterford’s medieval history. The street's name is a direct historical reference to the "New Gate," one of the principal landward entrances in the city's extensive defensive walls. While the gate itself and much of the wall were demolished from the late 17th to the 18th centuries to accommodate urban expansion, the street name remains a clear historical marker.
Historical Juxtaposition: The area around Newgate Street still holds fragments of Waterford's medieval defences, including the nearby French Tower—one of the six surviving towers of the city's original stone fortifications. The art's setting, therefore, creates a striking visual dialogue where contemporary Russian street art and a South African wildlife mural are painted upon a closed, 20th-century Irish pub, all situated within the ancient boundary of a Viking and Anglo-Norman walled city.
The "Lost in a Dream" Mural: A Juxtaposition of Modern Art and Medieval History
The mural by the Russian artist KREEMOS is a striking piece of contemporary street art, notable for its geometric style and its location in one of Waterford City's most historically layered districts. It serves as a powerful example of the Waterford Walls Festival's mission to transform urban decay with vibrant art, juxtaposing the city's ancient past with its modern cultural energy.
The Art and the Artist
The artwork, often referred to by the phrase visible within its design, "Lost in a dream," is the creation of KREEMOS, a young artist, graphic designer, and illustrator from Russia.
Style and Imagery: The mural employs an industrially looking puzzle aesthetic, utilizing bold, geometric shapes and a vibrant color palette of greens, teals, and purples. It features figures—including a distinct face and a human torso—over which is perched a lapwing, a bird of significant personal interest to the person describing the piece.
Creative Context: One of the mural's most ingenious features is its creative integration of the site's environment. The color scheme is deliberately used to camouflage and mask the blue garbage bins at the base of the wall, turning a piece of municipal infrastructure into a harmonious element of the artwork.
Contextual Confusion: While initial general guides sometimes vaguely placed KREEMOS's piece near Stephens Street, its definitive location has been established by a landmark-based photograph.
The Historical Location: Butcher's Lane and Newgate Street
The mural is situated on the rear wall of a large, seemingly long-closed pub building, located on Butcher's Lane, which runs just off Newgate Street. This specific building is also a canvas for another major festival piece:
The Landmark: The main side wall of the pub features the immense and highly recognizable "Electric Fury" mural, a roaring tiger painted by South African artist Sonny Sundancer in August 2017 for the Waterford Walls Festival. Historical records suggest the pub building was formerly known as Bobby's Bar, a local establishment located at 15 Newgate Street.
The Medieval Connection: The location on Newgate Street embeds the mural in Waterford’s medieval history. The street's name is a direct historical reference to the "New Gate," one of the principal landward entrances in the city's extensive defensive walls. While the gate itself and much of the wall were demolished from the late 17th to the 18th centuries to accommodate urban expansion, the street name remains a clear historical marker.
Historical Juxtaposition: The area around Newgate Street still holds fragments of Waterford's medieval defences, including the nearby French Tower—one of the six surviving towers of the city's original stone fortifications. The art's setting, therefore, creates a striking visual dialogue where contemporary Russian street art and a South African wildlife mural are painted upon a closed, 20th-century Irish pub, all situated within the ancient boundary of a Viking and Anglo-Norman walled city.