A walker walks through the sunny streets of Santiago de la Ribera and upon reaching the Plaza Virgen de la Fuensanta, he notices the bright colors that are reflected on the ground. The passer-by climbs on a bench to more clearly appreciate the curious figure that those lines make up and is able to appreciate the dancer that is drawn under her feet. That walker is Sebastián Hernández Díaz (Murcia, 1990), known artistically as Sbah and is the author of this 800 square meter mural.
Sbah is an artist who focuses on muralism because he likes to paint “large formats.” His murals are impressive due to their size and quality, which has earned Street Art Cities, one of the most famous urban art organizations, the attention of one of his works to nominate it as best mural in the world of the month of may. The selected work is ‘Aire’: a mural the size of an indoor soccer field painted on a square in Santiago de la Ribera: a district of San Javier.
Street Art Cities brings together on its social networks one of the largest communities of urban art lovers from around the world. Every month they put a certain number of works from all over the planet on trial. The winners face each other at the end of the year in a public contest, to decide which is the best of all of them. Sbah admits that He doesn’t know how they found their way: “When I finished it in April I sent it to them, but they didn’t respond to me. They have scouts all over the world, maybe it came to them through one of them.”
‘Making of’ from ‘Aire’, the work of the artist Sbah nominated for best mural of the month of May.
QUESTION.– What would you do if you won the prize?
ANSWER.- I will continue working as before, because this has come from a lot of work and effort. In fact, my education is oriented toward teaching. I have worked as a Primary and Secondary teacher, but I decided to leave everything a few years ago to dedicate myself only to painting. If I win this recognition, what I am going to do is continue as before, so that I don’t continue to lack projects.
Sebastián Hernández reflects, convinced that “winning the award for best mural of the month would be a super important recognition, but more than for me, it would be for urban art in general.” The key for this “adopted Mazarrón” artist is that these initiatives “serve to give visibility to this art and make people talk about itwhich in the end benefits all artists.”
The work that is submitted to the popular judgment of mural lovers represents a dancer from behind, captured on the floor of a square with soft violet and yellow tones. “The dancer is inspired by an anonymous model that I saw immortalized by photographer Maxi Ruiz-Erans. I asked him for permission to capture her in the mural, and she said yes.”
Q.– What does ‘Air’ transmit?
A.– I developed this work for the Imagina Festival organized by the San Javier City Council. The theme was free and I presented myself with this mural. What it represents is the imperative desire that human beings have to fly, both physically and metaphorically. On the one hand, the desire that we have had since childhood to be able to fly one day. And on the other, in a metaphorical way, the desire to give free rein to our freedom of expression. In fact, that’s what I did to paint it.
The artist speaks with a slow, friendly and serene tone, with which the journalist would never be able to guess the great effort it has taken him to be able to dedicate himself exclusively to his great passion. “When I decided to leave everything to dedicate myself to art, I bought a bass to set up my studio. Soon, I found myself with zero euros in the bankI was so broke that I started working as a waiter to be able to renovate it, because it was in ruins.
However, there were two things that helped him achieve his goal. On the one hand, the illusion of wanting to bite at all costs that dream that, although distant, he knew was possible. On the other hand, the dedication to fight and work tirelessly to achieve it. “I have been developing, and now I dedicate myself only to painting. Therefore, young people should not be afraid to jump into the pool and do what they want, but they must bet everything on your dream and put all your effort“.
Sbah’s bass, when he bought it (i) and now (d).
Sbah
That is the maxim that has led him to make his greatest aspiration now a reality that he enjoys every day. And for Sbah, art was already a passion from a very early age. “Since I can remember I have always been drawing. “He was the typical kid who had school notebooks full of drawings.”
Q.– What is your life like now that you dedicate all your time to art?
A.– I started with muralism about four years ago, but what I painted then had nothing to do with what I paint now. The good thing is that I can dedicate myself entirely to murals, and thanks to that, I have been traveling all over the world. In 2023 alone, I painted eight murals abroad: in Costa Rica, Brazil, Indonesia, Germany, Finland, Mexico and two in Colombia. In addition to a few others that I painted in Spain.
Recognition of artists
For an urban artist, having one of his or her works selected by the platform Street Art Cities, dedicated to documenting all the urban art on the planet, It’s like for a footballer to score a goal in a football match. Champions. But that does not go to the head of Sebastián Hernández, who thinks with a cold mind and his feet on the ground.
“Last year a Spanish boy won the best mural of the year. That’s what matters, I’m not worried about not winning, because my work will be recognized if people notice it and it is given visibility, It doesn’t matter who wins“At the moment, they have already begun to raise the ranking of the best mural for this month of June, we still need to know which will be the best work of the year and in the world.
In the Town Hall of San Javier, the town that stands on the edge of the Mar Menor, they are celebrating this achievement by Sbah, having created a work that has attracted the attention of such an important international organization. The Youth Councilor, Isabel Madrid, tells EL ESPAÑOL that this achievement by the Murcian artist represents “a recognition for all artists who have been through the Imagina Festival”.
An image of Sebastián Hernández ‘Sbah’, finishing his mural, ‘Aire’, for the Imagina Festival.
Sbah
Councilor Madrid emphasizes that Sbah’s work is also “one more reward for San Javier, for betting on young art for so many years.” And this Murcia municipality has two decades organizing the Imagina Festival for which the artist developed ‘Aire’: his mural nominated by Street Art Cities.
The head of Youth points out that the aforementioned contest has achieved that, “year after year, we see how local artists make the leap to the national and international level, which in turn increases demand.” A visibility that serves as inspiration for the little ones: “This festival was born from the demand of the Bachelor of Art students of the Ruiz de Alda Institute, to have municipal spaces for the exhibition of works.”
Sebastián Hernández -Sbah- is the urban artist of the moment in the Region of Murcia and is the best inspiration for those young people with artistic interests. The muralist concludes the conversation with this newspaper, from the basement in which he invested all his life savings, now restored and converted into a small exhibition hall. “If everyone had passion for their work, the world would be much better.”
