Our Street Art Tour was led by Bernardo, a 20-something year old from Mexico who has also lived in Paris. His girlfriend, Natalie, joined us on the tour. There was also a woman a little older than us on the tour. Another couple did not show up (we did wait about 10 minutes because it was a paid tour).
Bernardo has a Masters in Urban Design with a minor in street art. They live in the Ravel section of Barcelona. It was a very intimate two and a half hour tour (this time Don believed the tour would last until 7 pm).
We started with a history lesson, followed by seeing examples of famous street artists.
The big reason urban art has taken off is because of changes in technology, including spray paint. After all, urban art has been around since the days of cave drawings. It took off in the 1960s in the era of the student movements that transformed Europe. It grew in the 1980s with the Hip Hop culture. Hip Hop started in New York and spread to Europe.
In 1989 Keith Haring came to Barcelona.
For the 1992 Olympics the city commissioned artists to fill specific blank walls. Montana Cans was founded that year, two years later they opened their first shop. This product offered artists a much wider color palette.
From 1994-2005 there was a huge explosion of street art in Barcelona -- an era without rules!
That was put to an end in 2005 when a 3,000 euro fine was placed on street art.
In 2012 this space was opened as a place to legally produce street art. There are rules. You have to reserve a space on an ap, but it can be done. The art you create might last a day, or three months. Typically the more creative works last longer. There are other rules, including you don't spray onto someone else's space (unless you are playing off their space). The square is located on Av. Parel-el and is called Parc de les Xemeneies. Without the spray paint, it would be a non-descript cement zone in front of three large smoke stacks. With the paint, it is transformed into a place where music is played and people hang out. On our second night, we saw people hanging out there. It wasn't our style of music, but it wasn't threatening, either.
Check out https://www.foreverbarcelona.com/street-art-in-barcelona-graffiti-artists-and-best-places-to-see-them/ to see a list of places to see street art. Parc de les Xemeneies is top on the list.
We crossed Av. Parel-el again to look at this "Gallery" of art.
Every other month two artists are chosen to paint the front. This time it is a collaboration between muralists Marra and Rubi (good chance I spelled the names wrong). On the sides are a mashup or artists, many who paste their artwork, or have friends paste their artwork when they travel. The pasted ones are easier to stick someplace and run -- after all, graffiti is illegal.
Our expert showed us work by Filthy Three from Italy (his work has three faces), Tiny Hands Big Hear (an Irish art teacher, and rare woman graffiti artist), Cold one, Silvano, and others.
Paste-up example |
Filthy Three |
Tiny Hands Big Heart |
Ice Cream |
Throughout the city are examples of cans like these stuck on sides of buildings. They began as a way for a couple to leave messages for each other and has taken on a life of its own.
It is hard to see, but there is a new local artist whose art is the same color as the wall. Bernardo is quite dismayed that he cannot find the name of this artist, even though he has been asking his friends in the street art community.
Bernardo took us to a park his neighborhood that was supposed to become a hotel until the neighborhood put up a fight, now it is an empty space taken care of by the people who live in the area. They are not allowed to make any money off of this space, but they do have to take care of it. In this particular space is a Tim Marsh. Tim Marsh is a famous Barcelona street muralist. There is an app to find his work. Using you phone it becomes 3-D somehow. We did not have enough time to look into this. We did see a different one of his pieces towards the end of the tour. Our guide was dismayed someone recently painted over it -- that does happen with street art.
Around the corner is another such empty space. This one has been transformed into a place for social justice to honor a man killed by police brutality.
We kept walking. Bernardo found us an example of Morky (?) who uses fire art. His canvas art style is much different from his street art.
As we walked through Raval Rambla, Bernardo told us about El Gato -- the giant cat sculpture we saw on our way to the tour!
The walk continued, and Bernardo quizzed us by effortlessly showing us origami ... a face ... more cans ... the stories are blurring. The attention span is waning.
The ubiquitous black pacifiers are by El Xupet Negre -- the oldest street artist in Barcelona. He has been painting for 34 years. His artwork sells in galleries. Once we knew what to look for, we kept seeing his work throughout our stay.
Barcelona - the initials HVGOT done as a prank upon graduating from college in the 17th century. Somehow it is survived.
Our guide and his love walking away arm in arm. |
It was a great tour, but in the future I'll look for the free version first. I have found free tour guides more enthusiastic and engaged because they recognize their pay is based on how well the tour goes. Of course, then the groups tend to be larger. This was a very intimate tour. I often forgot there was an extra person with us. Natalie added to our group in that Don and Bernando were dashing with their long legs to the next place while I was talking pictures, making notes, and enjoying the scenery. Natalie made sure no one was left behind.
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