Ignacio Basave from Madrid wins the III International Mural Contest of Estepona with a work starring a grandmother and her granddaughter

The second prize went to Manuel Moreno Guirao, a Malaga native working in Australia, for a composition on the city’s traditions.

The Estepona City Council informs that the III International Mural Competition has already its winning works. The jury has awarded the first prize (worth 10,000 euros) to Ignacio Basave Cavanna from Madrid for his work ‘The bond that unites us’, which has been painted on the back of the Acuarius building on José Luis Díez street. The work shows an emotional and sympathetic scene shared by a grandmother and her granddaughter. Muralist, draftsman, illustrator and painter, Basave has a long professional career with individual works and participation in collective projects, as well as works for important events and brands.

The second prize (5,000 euros) went to Manuel Moreno Guirao, a young painter born in the Malaga town of Humilladero who has been working for some time in Melbourne (Australia), for ‘Traditions’, which is located at 2 Cabrera Street. It is a creation inspired by the most traditional professions, such as fishing or livestock.

The two winners were selected from among the ten finalists who have been creating their works simultaneously for ten days. The III International Mural Contest, organized by the Estepona City Council in collaboration with the developer AEDAS Homes, aims to promote the development of art in the city and expand the famous route of vertical artistic creations in the open air. In fact, these ten creations are integrated into the route of murals in the city, which already includes 64 works.

The evaluation criteria of the works have been the originality of the project and quality, integration into the urban space, as well as technical feasibility. The theme was free.

The competition has reached in this third edition a record number of participants with a total of 116 proposals, which shows the consolidation of this urban art project, which has become a reference both in Spain and abroad. In addition to the proposals from different parts of Spain, among the 116 entries received were works from countries such as Germany, France, Colombia, Canada, Mexico, the United States, South Africa, Venezuela, Argentina, Italy, Peru and Australia.

This year the International Mural Contest of Estepona distributes 27,000 euros in prizes. In addition to the first and second prize, the eight finalists have received a prize of 1,500 euros each.

In the words of the mayor of Estepona, José María García Urbano, this contest “contributes to consolidate and expand the Route of Artistic Murals of Estepona, a cultural initiative that has become a major tourist attraction and one of the hallmarks of the municipality.” He also explained that he is “impressed” with the level of the works that have participated in this edition and commented that all are already part of the artistic heritage of the city.

Estepona has become in the last decade in a real open-air museum that offers a new way to enjoy urban art through the route of the murals. A total of 64 artistic murals decorate the facades of buildings in different neighborhoods and areas, bringing them to life and making them an added attraction. One of them, entitled ‘Fishing Day’, is one of the tallest vertical murals in Spain. It occupies almost 1,000 square meters of surface and is made on the facade of six blocks of apartments in the Isabel Simón neighborhood.