My beloved Oslo - Pastel

I love my old neighbourhood! This mural was finished yesterday afternoon, and as you can see the lift is still there. 

It is created by Francisco Diaz aka Pastel from Argentina. He is an architect and painter, and thinks of street art as a "urban acupuncture".  By that he means that modern cities are full of "non-places" because of bad planning. The street art can vitalise this empty spot and give them new life and identity. 

He try to get a sense of the location before making a mural, and I thought that he maybe was inspired by the Botanic Garden that is just behind this building, but I discovered that he made a very similar mural in Girona, Spain and in his hometown Buenos Aires. The use the local flora as an inspiration. 

He started to tag walls when he was 14 years old, and started to paint murals after he finished his education as an architect. He didn't like the architect business, so for the moment he doesn't work as an architect. 
He took a big financial risk to start as a street artist, but he is still hanging in there. He shares a studio with two other street artists. All the murals are painted on canvas first. 

He has definitely contributed to make this area to an exciting place to visit and live. There are now 11 murals:
Mohammed Fadlabi
Jason
Monica Tollenes
Into
Zed1
Diana L. K. Kinnerød
Aryz
Aryz II
Zone
Broslo 
Anette Moi