Remed to Paint New Mural in Serbia's Second City

The French-born mural artist Guillaume Alby, known as Remed, whose works are displayed across the world, has told BIRN that he is on his way back to Novi Sad in northern Serbia, where would have liked to do something different on the same surface that was erased.

He added, however, that he will instead honour a proposition to paint it on a small building that has become an alternative cultural centre for Novi Sad.

"Yes, I am coming back, in answer to the invitation of Novi Sad. The mural is smaller and I don't know what it will be, but I hope to find something that can inspire," Remed explained.

Remed's now erased mural, painted in 2009, depicted a monster puppeteer moving two human figures who are cutting their strings, liberating themselves from it.

"The Only Truth" by Remed (digitalized by Stefan Alex Kostić) #NoviSad pic.twitter.com/sZBhU5uZ6m

— Ivica Milarić (@filmzadanas) March 18, 2017

The mural was suddenly painted over on March 16, two days ahead of a rally of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party in Novi Sad, shortly ahead of the April 2 presidential elections.

The President - formerly PM - of Serbia and head of the Progressive Party, Aleksandar Vucic, is often referred to as "the puppeteer" by the opposition.

However, Remed says he was unaware of those connotations.

"The visual just came to me while playing with proportions. I followed my intuition. I was not aware of the politico-social situation in Serbia when I created the visual," Remed pointed out, adding that the mural had a very universal and timeless message.

"Anywhere in the world, where lines are drawn on maps, the story is the same," he said.

The erasure of the mural angered some of the locals...