Graffiti in Rio welcomes the Olympics.

Before the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Rio 2016, the first record of the city will be achieved, but not on the race track or the pool. It’s a huge mural called ¨We are all one¨.

The mural is at the port in an area that has been rejuvenated for The Games. Eduardo Kobra is the graffiti artist creator of this impressive work.

An impressive world record using spray cans and kaleidoscopic colors, Kobra welcomes you to Rio with a mural that is 190 meters in width.

The mural is called ¨Ethnicities¨. With 15.5 meters in height, the work of art is almost 3,000 square meters and can be recognised as the largest of its kind in the world. “I’m happy to have been able to show my work in Rio, this is something that I have wanted to do for a long time.”

Kobra is also one of the artists to design one of the 13 official posters for Rio 2016 Games. Kobra used 100 gallons of white paint and 3,500 spray cans to complete his mural depicting the faces of five indigenous people from different nations of the five continents.

The murals was made with the help of a team of 4 guest artists who worked 12 hours a day for 2 months painting the exterior wall of a 2-floor warehouse near the port.

The street where the mural has been created is part of the Olympic Boulevard. A huge boardwalk that is 3 km in length which will include giant screens to watch the games, 3 stages with live music, Street art performances, fireworks, food trucks and children’s activities.

‘We are all connected’

Kobra says “Ethnicities” is part of a project called “Visions of Peace”, an international series that represents Martin Luther Kg, Ganhdi, Mother Teresa, Nelson Madela, among others.

“We live in a confusing and conflicting era. I want to show that we are united and we are all connected.”

If the Guinness world records accept Kobra’s graffiti mural “Ethnicities”, it will be twice the size of that which currently holds the record since 2009, by the Mexican artist Ernesto Rocha, whose mural in Mazatlán measures 1,678 square meters.

Kobra’s style is very easy to recognize. He uses geometry, quilted patterns and live colors to create hyper realistic portraits of citizens, politicians and celebrities. His canvases are garages, fireplaces, entire facades of buildings and abandoned walls.

“Everything I know I have learned on the streets”, says Kobra. Today, the work of this graffiti artist is found in more than 20 countries. In the United States he has made over 30 projects.

After being arrested in his youth for vandalism, the judge recognized his talent and sentenced him to paint the outside of a police station.

After this project, Kobra will make another graffiti mural, with the same style, this time in Ohio where he will paint a mural of the Astronaut Neil Armstrong.

Let us hope that the Olympic Committee has applied an anti-graffiti coating at least 3 meters high throughout the mural. This way if vandals decide to graffiti it, it may be easily cleaned without damaging this majestic work of art.