Mantra, the street artist who paints giant butterflies of shocking beauty

With his works Mantra – Art name of Youri Cansell – tries to create a bridge between humanity and nature. Internationally renowned street artist, is known above all for its spectacular giant butterfliesa person who has accompanied him since childhood, when he already heard a strong attraction for the natural world … and in particular for these insects.

His butterflies are not the result of the case: each work arises from an in -depth study, from excursions in nature to observe them live and from visits to entomological collections.

There are numerous murals that see them protagonists and the latest creation appeared on the roof of a building in Downtown Miami. A monumental work that required many hours of work and that depicts 18 different species of butterflies, including some at risk of extinction.

Here is the complete list shared by the artist on your Instagram profile:

1A. Danaus Gilippus

1b. Phoebis Philae

1c. Atlides Halesus

1D. Battus Phillenor Philebor

2nd. Eurema daira Eugenia

2b. Polygonia QUESTIONISS

2C. Eumaeus Atala

2D. Cupid Comyntas

3A. Pterourus Glaucus

3B. Eurytides Marcellus

4th. Eurema daira Eugenia

4b. Dione Incarnata Nigrior

4C. Eumaeus Atala

4D. Cylargus Erembis

5th. Vanessa Virginiensis

5b. Phoebis Philae

5C. Atlides Halesus Halesus

5D. Limenitis Arthemis Astyanax

What makes Mantra’s work truly unique is the extraordinary scientific precision with which he creates his insects, so realistic and treated in the smallest details that they seem out of the pages of a naturalistic atlas. An extraordinary example is the gigantic seven -floors mural built for the Denizen building in Bushwick (Brooklyn), where each butterfly comes to life on the common corridors, transforming the entire space into an open -air tunnel.

And what about those painted in Vienna?! A real urban show!

Here instead we are in Versailles, France.

Also in France another splendid giant butterfly decorated the old steel site of Amnéville-Roman, founded in 1881 and became, in the 1960s, one of the most important in the world.

Mantra has also brought her art to Italy and to be exact in Lana, a municipality of Trentino-Alto Adige, where she painted this authentic masterpiece.

Sources: Street Art for Mankind/Mantra