The chances of residents, tourists, and commuters missing their trains at Heidelberg’s Central Station in Germany has just increased. Not because of trackwork, strikes, or god forbid it…vandalism! The reason is the amazing new head-turning mural by Spanish street art duo, PichiAvo. As part of the METROPOLINK festival that takes part in the region of Heidelberg, the mural has found its new home on a large scale in the main terminal building of the station. A meeting point, food stop, and transport hub all in one, the station has now become home to a contemporary mix of graffiti, classical sculpture and street art. Starting with layers of graffiti fodder, their image forms as a transparent eagle, and a Romanesque statue figure emerge over the backdrop of vibrant, Montana BLACK and GOLD fueled graffiti mark-making.

The duo from Valencia Spain, formed in 2007 after meeting in the graffiti scene and later studying Fine Art and Design together. Pichi born in 1977 and Avo born in 1985 abandoned the idea of individualism for a path of art-making that works best in pairs or more.

Merging sculpture and graffiti in the public space

Once all was said and done, the plastic dust covers removed, and the shops beneath the mural returned to business as usual, the mural leaves behind not only the traces of some other local graffiti greats, who stopped by as the scissor lift was in full extension but also a cultural story that connects many elements of historical and contemporary art, that will stay behind for years to come, filling in the gaps for all those who can spare a moment to look up and contemplate what they are seeing.