The collaboration with the Street Art Festival “Waterford Walls” reaches its fifth year. Between 2022 and 2025 it made possible the participation of five Italian artists to the event (Iena Cruz, Chekos, LuogoComune, Rame13, Mr Blob) to the great satisfaction of both public and curators.
This year, the support of the IIC will allow italian artist Speker to join the Street Artist team selected for the 2026 edition
This year’s festival will take place from 7 to 16 August: don’t miss the opportunity to explore Ireland’s city of street art and creativity. More information on the Festival website.
Speker’s work explores the tension between realism and graphic abstraction, focusing on the emotional and psychological layers of the human experience.
His journey began with graffiti, painting his name across walls, an experience that shaped his understanding of space, scale, and spontaneity. After several years immersed in that practice, his work naturally evolved toward mural painting, where he could expand beyond lettering and start building more complex visual narratives while maintaining a strong connection to the street.
This transition took shape during his time in Los Angeles, where he began developing his practice professionally. There, he moved toward figurative work, using portraiture as a way to explore identity, emotion, and the subtle tensions that exist beneath everyday moments. What started as a shift in subject matter gradually became a deeper investigation into storytelling.
Today, process plays a central role in his work. Each piece begins with an idea, sometimes intuitive, sometimes more defined, which he develops through sketches and visual research. He then collaborates with people he knows and models to construct staged photographic references. These images become the foundation for his compositions, allowing him to build scenes that feel both real and slightly displaced.
His work often reflects themes of identity, multiculturalism, and connection, combining detailed figurative painting with graphic elements that interrupt and reframe the image.
Speker has created murals and participated in street art festivals across Europe, the United States, and South America, working with festivals, cultural organizations, and nonprofit initiatives. He holds a BFA in Illustration from ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California.