A number of talented 3D graffiti artists recently brightened up the outside walls of the Red Sea Mall in Jeddah with colorful depictions of sea life. This was for a contest organized by artist Fatimah Ba Azeem, who has been bringing aspiring young artists together for the last three years. The event was jointly organized by the mall, Ba Azeem and ACE events. Doaa Bin Thabit, ACE representative and manager of the contest, said the warm weather and venue was ideal for the contest this year. “Red Sea Mall was very generous. We thought we would be drawing on brick only and it wouldn't take up much space, but almost the entire fence of the outdoor parking lot was used as well as the grounds.” The contestants were mainly amateur and professional graffiti artists including Ibrahim Al-Rayes and Abdullah Ba Hajaj. The 3D paintings were supervised and drawn by professional Filipino artist, Caesar, who also competed and taught 3D techniques to the other contestants. Some of the artists were astonished to see spray paint being used to create such high-quality 3D paintings. A young local artist, 18-year-old Rafat Al-Sulaiman, stood out with his mature and professional work. Ba Azeem said graffiti is an art form. “Graffiti usually contains text and many do not classify it as a form of art, but we have proven otherwise by making street artists draw instead of write on the walls,” she said. She said 3D drawing techniques are an emerging trend internationally but only few have mastered it. “People love 3D art because they can look and touch it without worrying about breaking it.” __
