Ystad skulpturpark

In 2024, a project with extensive mural paintings was carried out on the cement gray walls of the harbor warehouse in Ystad’s harbour. It was the Swedish street art organization Artscape that took the initiative and after approval from Ystad Municipality/Ystad Hamn Logistik AB, the paintings were created. Artscape has worked with public art in various parts of Sweden since 2014, often in collaboration with municipalities and companies. Artscape is looking for eye-catching and easily accessible walls to use for murals. Their idea is to inspire people for the art form and promote public art for everyone and for public art to be an attractive part of the urban environment.

The surface covered by the artwork includes three walls of the harbor warehouse, approx. 6.5 × 90 meters. A total area of ​​615 square meters. The walls were first washed clean, but were then allowed to retain their condition with cracked plaster and partly exposed bricks. The aim of the artwork is to create a more inviting and attractive atmosphere in a port that is undergoing change. The artwork is not intended to be permanent. That is part of the art form. It may be five, ten or 20 years.

The work was created through spray painting in 2024 by the internationally active American artist and graffiti painter Douglas Hoekzema (1980–), with the artist name HOXXOH. Douglas Hoekzema is a trained architect and creates his paintings in an unconventional way and, among other things, builds his own equipment for spray painting. This gives his often abstract paintings a colorful and powerful expression. They mix rhythm, repetition, strong colors and intricate patterns and provide a dynamic interplay of light and movement.

The painting in Ystad was part of a project that in Skåne also included murals in Klippan, Kävlinge, Kristianstad and Bromölla.