Last Monday we posted a story about the possibility that the Church of England could be closing thousands of its churches that have dwindling congregations and are underused. This has happened in locations around the planet. Here in the US former church buildings have been converted to single family homes, restaurants, bed & breakfasts, condominium apartments, concert venues and more. Others have been converted to houses of worship for congregations of non-Christian faiths. Many such projects have not been without controversy, locally and in wider circles of concern. At least two, that I know about, have been converted into indoor skateboard parks.
Spanish artist Okuda (Oscar) San Miguel has been painting in one way or another since he was young. First he painted as a graffiti artist in the streets. Now he paints as an established artist after formally studying fine art. He has developed his own geometric style and has been commissioned to design posters and to paint vans, 18-wheeler trucks and huge murals covering the the walls of multi-story buildings.
One of his latest installations has been to paint the inside of an abandoned church, St Barbara’s, in Llanera, a town in the Spanish principality of Asturias in Northern Spain. He obtained sponsorship from companies such as Red Bull energy drinks, to support the conversion of the church to the skate park. He states in the YouTube video that accompanies this story, that he considers this commission as his own personal Sistine Chapel. It took a week for he and his team to execute the project. He calls the installation Koas Temple.
The images are from Okuda’s Facebook page.