'This city is magic' - meet Claudia La Bianca, the internationally renowned street artist who has swapped Miami for Portsmouth

“I know this city is going to be the next big thing”, a renowned street artist told The News ahead of her upcoming show in Southsea.

Claudia La Bianca swapped the tropical sunshine of Miami for the marina of Port Solent two years ago and she didn’t waste any time in ingratiating herself in Portsmouth’s street art scene. While you may not have met her, you will have undoubtedly spotted some of her unique artwork brightening the likes of Albert Road and Palmerston Road.

On Friday, May 1 she will be showcasing her latest work at The Corner Collective on Albert Road in her show titled Guardians & Dreamers. It is a mixture of painting and sculpture with the theme of female empowerment that Claudia’s work is known for.

She said: “I’m really excited. The show is really colourful and perfect for this type of weather. It is a body of work I have been working on for the past couple of months.”

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The move from Miami, where she had made her name in the Wynwood art district of the city, may have been a big change but she couldn’t be happier to be in Portsmouth.

Claudia said: “Portsmouth is so inspiring, it is so beautiful, it has so much culture and history and I am very proud to be here. I want to contribute whatever I can to embellish the city even more.”

Claudia is a well-known street artist in Miami and helped to turn it into the “mecca of street art” that it is today. Born in Siciliy, Italy, she moved to America in 1997.

The 47-year-old said: “When I arrived in Miami it was like a baby, Wynwood, the art district didnt even exist. At around 2000 I moved to Wynwood which was a very ugly industrial area where nobody wanted to live but there was a lot of warehouses.

“I, together with a few artists, moved into one of the warehouses and we just started painting, living as artists, being bohemian and all of a sudden within five years the area became a destination for street artists. Now all the big street artists show there.

“So I witnessed this and contributed to the building of it and that is what I want to do here. I am not stopping, I am evolving and continuing, and I just love being in England now.”

Her journey to Portsmouth began in 2023 when she travelled to Manchester to film a television show for the American broadcaster NBC called Hot Wheels Ultimate Challenge. She was the artist helping to turn run down cars into Hot Wheels but the show ended up changing her life.

She met her now husband, Danny Maines, who was also working on the show and decided to cross the Atlantic and move to his hometown on the south coast. It was important for her to move to another waterfront city and she started reach out to Portsmouth’s art community before even arriving.

“I got in touch with My Dog Sighs before I moved here,” Claudia said, “He was away but he put me in touch with Fark, who I call the godfather of the street artist family in Portsmouth. He is amazing and was very welcoming.

“I was lucky to meet him, he was one of the first people I met in Portsmouth, and we have painted together all over the city, Palmerston Road, Albert Road, everywhere. We are the art department of Portsmouth.

She added: “Street art is an instant message, art makes people happy. I have witnessed with my own eyes its impact in Miami, nasty neighbourhoods and then art being painted on the walls and it changes the vibes, it changes the energy, it lowers crime and makes people more happy.

“In Portsmouth we have such an amazing group of artists and the more we paint, the more we get together, the more we create, the more we can help put this city on the map for art. I know that Portsmouth will be the next big city, this city is magic and I am so happy to be here.”

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In addition to her street art, Claudia has a long history of artistic endeavour including graduating from the New York Film Academy. She has been involved in a number of projects including directing The Abode which is currently on Amazon Prime.

Her passion for film has not diminished since moving to the south coast with the show on Friday also debuting the trailer of her new short movie which was shot in Portsmouth. It is a story of two teenage boys journey to becoming friends and is expected to be completed in June.

Guardians & Dreamers is a free show and will be open from 6pm until 9pm.

More information on Claudia and her work can be found on her Instagram page @claudialabianca.