OTP’s Guide to Street Art: Spain
Photo by: Thias (°-°)
As far as art goes, Spain is definitely hooked up with a solid piece of action. From the freaky works of Picasso and Dalí, to the classically inclined El Greco and Velázquez, you’re bound to find more than a few famous framed pieces to enjoy. Sure those dead guys were pretty talented, but Spain’s proclivity to paint wasn’t buried with them. Takin’ it to the streets, in a big way—OTP’s got the lowdown on graffiti in the Red Fury, and it’s enough to make you hop on the next flight to peep it for yourself.
Street art started appearing in modern form as early as the 1940s in Brooklyn, but Spanish dictator Francisco Franco was a buzz-kill in the decade leading to the graffiti revolution and it took Spain a while to jump on board. When his reign ended in 1975, the Spaniards made it their mission to catch up. Young artists were nurtured by La Movida Madrileña, the Madrid counterculture movement that encouraged a departure from boring, repressing Francoism.
The first recognized graffiti artist, or graffitero, on the Spanish scene was “El Muelle,” who began decorating Madrid in 1980. He got his street cred by literally making a name for himself; plastering his distinct signature all over the city. Feeling like underage kids with their first fake IDs, a slew of young artists followed his lead and let themselves go. They weren’t associated with hip-hop or urban gangs, but they did paint to protest the status quo. Widely-known Madrileño artists included Remebe, Glub, Spok, Suso33, and many others, who have expressed themselves all over—and under—the city.
While somewhat regulated by heavy vandalism fines, modern graffiti co-exists with more established traditional art in every part of Spain.
Photo by: pasota
Pez : In keeping with the literal translation of his name, Pez is known for his murals of fish in Barcelona. Now, these aren’t your typical, underwater gilled animals. He created a distinct, surrealist, tripped-out fish character that is undeniably his own.
Photo by: xarxes
El Xupet Negre sprays giant, happy-looking black baby pacifiers all over the Barcelona. Featured in numerous exhibitions, newspapers and of course, up and down Barcelona’s streets, El Xupet Negre has become more than a tag; it’s a logo with a message pushing “love, peace, respect, equality and freedom” onto every wall it encounters.
El Niño de las Pinturas, Raúl Ruiz, calls the scorching south of Spain, hippie-happy Granada, his home. One of the most reputable Spanish graffiti artists, Ruiz has been commissioned nationally and internationally to paint his distinctive murals. His works usually consist of people colored with earthy tones of blues, browns, reds, and golds and are finished off with a unique calligraphy block.
Photo by: Lahe178
Lahe is a badass female street artist in a counterculture dominated by dudes. She mostly hangs out in her hometown of Sevilla and paints with her crew, Sprays Platinum (SPL). Her work varies from tags to script to full-wall murals of monsters and octopi. Featured in magazines like Catfight (feisty!), traditionally Fine Arts educated Lahe takes it to the streets to paint her own little crazy world.
Photo by: Sobchack
Belin, the amazing artist from Linares, Jaén, combines realism, surrealism and cartoonish caricature to make his art pop. He recently painted some of his own crazy surrealist works in front of the Van Gogh museum in the Netherlands, along with many other pieces that can be found in both gallery and street-side settings. According to an interview with FatCap Magazine, Belin is part of a crew of international artists, which includes Otes, another Spanish graffiti big shot.
From Madrid, across to Barcelona and way down south into Andalucia, wherever you find yourself, street art is best seen outside of city centers. Here’s how to spot pieces in popular places:
Photo by: mishael
Madrid: Since most of the Spain’s capital is filled with heavily-protected monuments and museums, artists have to take some necessary precautions to put up their pieces. It takes some serious balls to get into the subway tunnels, but Madrileño graffiteros boast some of the best subway art out there, especially on Line 5.
Barcelona: Not surprisingly, the artsiest place in all of Spain, also has some hardcore street art competitors. The city maintains its offbeat feel with Las Ramblas, an open-air theater-street that draws buskers of all varieties, as well as with the insane Gaudí architecture scattered all over the city. In addition to already nutty traditional art, murals from street artists like La Mano and Chanoir make Barcelona one of the best free outdoor museums in the country. Many graffiteros in Barcelona take their names from their symbols and you can expect to find Pez’ fish and El Xupet Negre’s pacifier scattered throughout the winding streets..
Photo by: ~SeRaH~
Raul Ruiz’ work can be found in the neighborhood of the Realejo, culminating in the massive work that is the artist’s own house. Characterized by many as a “problem”, graffiti is scattered around the rest of this city of staircases with works concentrated around the side streets near the spectacular Alhambra.
Photo by: pimgmx
Sevilla: Near the Guadalquivir River, there’s a wall that the city allows street artists to paint without the risk of fines. Another interesting form of legal street art all over Sevilla comes from a contest where city officials allowed groups of artists and students to paint their plastic and glass recycling bins.
Every Place Else: All over Spain, the trend of commissioning graffiti artists is spreading and while the art is more tame and somewhat censored, colorful graffiti can now be found on the walls of schools, kindergartens and supermarkets.
All this goes to say that what started out as counterculture in Spain is now as in-demand as tits during Mardi Gras. Since many of these artists are now paid to paint in gritty urban centers for the sake of beautification, who needs stuffy museums? Fine, a visit to the Prado and the Sagrada Familia are essential, but by just taking a walk, you can sample some of the best (free) contemporary art out there.
Traveling is my only healthy addiction. The more time I spend living abroad, the longer the list gets of places I need to visit and adventures I want to undertake.
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