This portrait made by BTOY is of Greta Garbo, a Swedish actress known for the American silver screen in the 1930s. Her career had high peaks and deep lows. BTOY often bases the portraits she creates on old photos of iconic women from the 1920s to the 1950s. It concerns women who have contributed with their careers to emancipation in their time. Before BTOY started street art at the age of 26, she studied photography in Barcelona. The photographs she studied during her training laid the foundation for her portraits. She learned to look carefully at the faces she photographed, which is reflected in the detailed stencils she creates for her street art portraits.
If you look closely at Greta Garbo's portrait, you can see how the artist combines powerful strokes with fine lines, using only spray paint. BTOY has taught herself how to make street art with stencils. As her fame grew since CANS 2008 festival by Banksy, her stencil art has begun to be noticed by galleries and museums, as well as private collectors. In 2008 the famous street art artist Banksy invited her to participate in a major street art festival in London, the Cans Festival. In the long tunnel under the famous Waterloo station, Banksy organised a 'stencil art battle' for the best stencil artists. Orticanoodles and Hugo Kaagman from Amsterdam also took part in the international festival. Thanks to the art of the participants, the unattractive dingy, urine-scented place turned into a cultural hangout where all kinds of events take place. Since the festival, the tunnel has attracted people from all over the world. It shows positively the impact of street art can be.
