Renowned for merging classical mythology with the vibrant language of street art, PichiAvo have become one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary muralism. Formed by Valencia-based artists Juan Antonio Pichi and Álvaro Hernández, the duo developed their signature style from the graffiti scene—layering Greco-Roman sculptural imagery with bold tags and painterly gestures that bridge ancient heritage and modern urban culture.
Over the past decade, their large-scale works have appeared in major public art sites worldwide, including Miami’s Wynwood Walls and New York’s Houston Bowery Wall. Their latest project, An Offering to Athens, brings their long-standing fascination with Greek mythology to the city itself: a monumental mural dedicated to Athena near the Acropolis of Athens, symbolically reconnecting contemporary street expression with the ancient cultural narratives that inspire their work.
Popspoken: Greek mythology and Asian heritage both draw heavily from ancient traditions. When creating An Offering to Athens, did you think about how classical myths continue to inspire modern cities around the world—including in Asia?
PichiAvo: Absolutely. For us, myths don’t belong to the past, they’re living languages that continue to evolve over time. When we worked in Athens, we felt a very strong sense of pride in people for their history, but also a genuine desire to reconnect with it in a contemporary way. Through this project, we understood that, allowing these myths to remain present, not just as memory, but as something that still shapes how we understand the present and imagine the future.
It’s inevitable to think that something similar happens across many Asian cultures, where ancient traditions continue to influence everyday life in very visible ways. We’re deeply interested in that meeting point, where the ancestral finds its place within the urban landscape and transforms it, creating new layers of meaning.
Popspoken: Your work merges classical sculpture aesthetics with graffiti, two worlds that traditionally sit far apart. Why do you think this fusion resonates with younger global audiences today?
PichiAvo: It is because, in the end, it reflects the way we experience the world today, as a constant coexistence of different languages, references and times. Everything is naturally reinterpreted and mixed.
Graffiti brings a direct, spontaneous and alive energy, while classical sculpture carries a sense of permanence, history and symbolism. When these two elements come together, they generate a dialogue that feels both familiar and unexpected at the same time.
At the same time, we don’t really see them as opposite worlds. Historically, they have always been closer than we tend to think, classical sculptures were originally full of color, and in places like Pompeii, graffiti already existed as part of everyday life, sharing space with architecture and formal artistic expressions. In that sense, our work is not about contrasting two extremes, but about reconnecting layers that have always coexisted.
Popspoken: Many Asian cities, from Singapore to Seoul, are rapidly embracing public art and large-scale murals. What role do you think street art can play in shaping a city’s cultural identity?
PichiAvo: Urban art has a unique ability to connect directly with people because it exists in their everyday environment. It doesn’t require entering a museum or a specific context, it’s part of daily life, of the way a city is experienced and remembered. It can reinforce local identity by engaging with the history, symbols and narratives of a place, but it can also expand that identity, making it more open, diverse and dynamic. When a mural truly connects with its surroundings, it stops being just an image and becomes something people recognize as part of their own environment.
At the same time, when a city invests in public art, it is making a cultural statement. It reflects a willingness to support creativity and to integrate it into urban development. That kind of commitment not only enriches the visual landscape, but also contributes to building a more vibrant, meaningful and culturally active city.
Popspoken: Athena symbolizes wisdom, strategy, and civic protection. What drew you to portraying Athena specifically for this mural, and how did you reinterpret her for a contemporary urban setting?
PichiAvo: Athena is almost inevitable in Athens, she is part of the city’s identity and its symbolic foundation. According to the myth, she gave the olive tree to the city, a gesture that represents peace, wisdom and prosperity, and that origin story was something we found especially meaningful to work with. We were also very interested in her dual nature: she embodies both strength and intelligence, strategyand protection. That balance felt very relevant, not only in a historical sense, but also in how it can be interpreted today.
Our intention was not to recreate a classical figure, but to bring her into a contemporary context. Graffiti becomes that new layer, almost as if the city itself is interacting with her, transforming her and keeping her alive within today’s visual language. In that way, this Athena is not only a reference to the past, but also a reflection of present-day Athens, where history and urban expression coexist continuously in the streets.
Popspoken: This mural was a self-initiated offering to Athens, a city that has inspired your work for years. If you were invited to create a similar project in Asia, which city or cultural mythology would you most want to explore?
PichiAvo: There are many possibilities, but we’re especially drawn to cultures with a strong visual identity and powerful iconography. We’re very interested in places like the Asian side of Turkey, which has that unique condition of being a bridge between East and West, where different cultural layers naturally coexist.
We’re also very interested in countries like Japan, China or Thailand, which we’ve had the chance to visit, and where we’ve experienced firsthand that richness of culture and visual language. In those contexts, tradition is not something distant, it’s still very present and continues to shape the contemporary environment in a very natural way.
What really interests us is finding that point where history, symbolism and the urban landscape come together organically. Just like we did in Athens, we would approach those places from within, understanding their references and narratives before reinterpreting them through our own perspective. At the same time, we think it would be very interesting to explore the connections between Mediterranean culture and different Asian cultures, and see how those shared ideas or parallels could be translated into a contemporary visual language.
