El Bocho, Street Art Berlin and Ideal Versicherungen gave the biggest and most beautiful portrait mural as a present to Berlin! Go and see it live at Kochstr. 26 at Checkpoint Charlie!
The portrait attracts it’s viewers by the usage of complementary colours blue and orange and in different shades and fits perfectly to the background, if the sky is cloudless and blue, the sun makes the mural ever so beautiful. On cloudy days, it enlightens the area as a colourful eye-catcher. But see for yourselves:
About El Bocho
El Bocho is the most famous and active Berlin-based street artist, and most likely the one who has been continuously active for the longest time. Since 1997, he has been beautifying the walls and corners of the world’s cities. His art, though no longer belonging solely to the genre of street art, has its roots and developed exactly there – on the streets, where people pass by and stop daily to see themselves and our society reflected in the artist’s versatile works. El Bocho is among those artists who successfully and elegantly form and stabilise the bridge between street art and gallery art. Each indoor action is featured by an outdoor action. His exhibitions are successful wherever they take place, not only due to his ambition and untiring drive for development and evolution, but also due to his unique way of connecting painting and illustration. His clear style and competent usage of colour is an instant eye-catcher, whether he is creating a portrait of a woman on the streets, a book illustration, or a canvas. El Bocho appears in books, magazines and exhibitions, both local and international. The artist has given television interviews in Germany, Hungary, Israel, the U.S. and Hong Kong. Germany’s former chancellor Helmut Schmidt has even decorated his refrigerator with El Bocho’s figure „Little Lucy“. Outside of Europe, El Bocho is most widely celebrated in Japan. For several years his exhibited artworks have sold within little time after being put on display, and his works for social projects, which he provides to auction houses, reach top prices.
Web: elbocho.net
Instagram: elbochoberlin
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About Checkpoint Charlie
Nowadays, a wide audience knows Checkpoint Charlie from movies such as James Bond in Octopussy and other spy movies. It is not only a film location, but an important historical and socio-political site in Berlin.
During the Cold War, while the city of Berlin was separated into different sectors, here, at the corner of Friedrichstraße and Zimmerstraße, was the former border crossing between the Sowjet sector (East Berlin) and the U.S.-American sector (West Berlin). Today, Checkpoint Charlie is a well-visited tourist attraction with the flag and the sandbags based on the original spot.
Sadly, Checkpoint Charlie also saw numerous attempts to escape from East Berlin to West Berlin. In the surrounding area, you can see an open air exhibition (corner of Schützenstraße and Zimmerstraße). It documents the successful stories of those who made it over the border as well as of those who failed to do so. An installation by the artist Frank Thiel and a commemorative plate mark the place as a memorial.
Conclusion
Judging by those facts, a lot of people take photos at Checkpoint Charlie. Make sure, the next time you go there, to take one of El Bocho’s astonishing mural portrait as the area got one attraction richer!
