Roma’s latest mural is a collaboration Sam. Both artists favour abstract forms and vibrant colours and their styles complement each other perfectly. The piece is gigantic. A 40 metre giant, composed of swirling shapes and psychedelic colours reclines against the wall of a printing warehouse. Each section of the giant has been beautifully detailed, and each body part is a work of art in itself.

It’s incredibly difficult for photos to do the piece justice – there is no way to recreate the sensation of walking along a quiet residential road and discovering a 40 metre giant. The only people who will ever really experience the full impact of this piece are a handful of local residents, which is exactly how Roma wants it to be. This humble barrio is slowly transforming into what could be called the abstract graffiti capital of Latin America.

Jonny Robson

His recent works have a different tone and feature creative juxtapositions of strikingly realistic portraits together with abstract forms. This theme has been incorporated into his latest piece for Open Walls Baltimore, where he has painted an extraordinary mural that spans the length of a building.

The mural was inspired by a comment Ever heard on a bus during the swine flu crisis. Public transport in Buenos Aires can be a little overcrowded at the best of times, and during the swine flu crisis tempers ran high. A man boarded a local bus trying to sell trinkets to the passengers, and noting that the passengers were glaring angrily at sneezing child, he began his sales pitch with the line “remember, the body is just a suit to be worn upon the earth”. The line may not have sold him many trinkets but it made a lasting impression on Ever.

Taking inspiration from this idea, Ever created a collage with Rosanna Bach which explored the relationship between the mind, the body and the soul. The collage became the basis for this mural, a stunning piece which is testament to Ever’s skill and ability to make ideas work at enormous scales.

We’re very happy to be able to share some photos of the mural taken by legendary photographer Martha Cooper, whom Ever was very honoured to spend time with during his time in Baltimore.

Ever is in high demand at the moment, and will shortly be heading to paint at festivals and exhibitions in Spain, Germany & London over the summer. We’re looking forward to see what he paints!

All images are copyright of Martha Cooper. 

Arte Patricios was an innovative event which brought together dozens of artists over a single weekend to create an open air art gallery around the the perimeter of the construction site for Banco Ciudad. Wooden boards were attached to the metal walls surrounding the site, creating a gallery of empty spaces for the participating artists. Some artists focused on painting the board itself, whilst others incorporated the surrounding wall into their pieces.

We turned up late on the last day of the event having got lost en route. Whilst Parque Patricios is a barrio to watch, it’s also apparently a barrio that can be difficult to get to (according to our taxi driver anyway). So unfortunately we didn’t manage to capture all the artwork from the event – but happily if you’re interested in checking it out, the artwork will remain in place for the next 8 months whilst the bank is built, and then following completion of the site the artwork will be auctioned off.

From the little we caught it seemed like a great event with an interesting concept – transforming an inherently ugly construction site into something attractive for local residents. There were some beautiful paintings and a friendly vibe as artists, their friends and local residents enjoyed the art.

Stencil Land

Amor

Martin Ron

Cabaio Stencil

P3DRO

Pelos de Plumas

Pum Pum

Malatesta

Poeta

Roma

Corona

Tester

These three early pioneers of Buenos Aires street art have been collaborating for over 10 years, since they met at the University of Buenos Aires. Sharing ideas based around the motto ‘Do It Yourself’, they formed the art collectives Doma and Fase, and went on to play key roles in the artistic movement which responded to the 2001 economic crisis in Argentina.

The vibrancy of their art, pared with its bold simplicity engaged the public, and demonstrated the power that art has in transforming public spaces. Their early interventions played an important role in defining the relationship between the artists, street art and the public.

Though their provocative styles have a natural resonance with the streets, Chu, Defi and Tec work on a wide range of formats. The artists have deeply unique individual styles, but maintain a collective ethos – creating collaborative work that transcends the individual artist and transforms spaces whether they’re inside or out. The new exhibition at Choque Cultural provides an insight into how their art has developed after a decade of explosive interventions.

“BsAs” from Tec, Defi and Chu @ Choque Cultural
Saturday 28 April – 2 June 2012
Choque Cultural, Rua Joao Moura 997 Pinheiros www.choquecultural.br

images from top: chu, tec + defi

Poeta is one of a generation of young artists who began painting graffiti in the 90s, alongside Roma, Jaz, Ever & Mart. Like his contemporaries Poeta’s style and technique has evolved over the years, and his letter based pieces have made way for figurative and abstract creations.

For his first solo show, Poeta reflects on freedom and space using the metaphor of the bird, its relationship with the city, its freedom to explore and the place we define as its home. This concept is visualised through a series of delicate watercolour paintings which explore the relationships between colour, form and space.

“Pájaro” will be running until the end of May and is open to the public from 6-9pm, Tuesday to Sunday.

There’s a beautiful video to accompany the show which we’ve embedded below, and you can see more photos from the exhibition on Poeta’s flickr.

(Hollywood in Cambodia / Thames 1885)

Jaz (Franco Fasoli) & Ever (Nicolas Romero) are two of the leading artists to emerge from the Buenos Aires urban art scene.

Buenos Aires is an extraordinary city. Its turbulent history and long standing tradition of popular, public expression has promoted a climate of tolerance, respect and admiration towards public art. Whilst street art and graffiti is often characterised as vandalism and a visible symbol of urban decay, Buenos Aires represents a new paradigm – a city with a thriving urban art scene built upon a foundation of respect, in which the lines between graffiti and muralism have become blurred.

Jaz and Ever have developed as artists in a city which has nurtured their talents, allowing them to experiment in an environment free from the repression which inhibits urban art in other international cities. Both artists began by painting letters, inspired by the global culture of graffiti. But over time they decided to move beyond the established conventions of letter based graffiti, in pursuit of their own styles, techniques and method of interacting with the public.

An artist should not be defined by the surface on which they paint. Both Jaz & Ever have a long standing relationship with urban art, but they are not defined by their decision to paint in public space. Each artist has developed a distinctive visual language, and their styles and techniques have been shaped by their street paintings. However both artists are equally comfortable projecting their concepts onto canvas, wood and other more traditional supports.

graffitimundo has the pleasure of presenting original artwork from Jaz & Ever, in an exhibition which pays tribute to the work of two truly remarkable artists and the scene from which they have emerged.

If you’d like to visit the exhibition, just email us at info@graffitimundo.com and we’ll arrange a viewing.

Malatesta is a member of the Hollywood in Cambodia (HIC) crew alongside rundontwalk, bs.as.stncl & Stencil Land. Together these artists have been responsible for shaping the development of stencil art in Buenos Aires over the past decade, and helping define its distinctive aesthetic.

Malatesta’s new exhibition showcases both his talents as an artist, and his unconventional techniques. All of the pieces on display incorporate techniques from stencil art. But instead of taking a box cutter to cardboard or plastic to create his images, Malatesta took a screw driver to metal panels.

“A las chapas” features works that have been scratched into pieces of metal found lying in the street. The scratched designs have been oxidised, transforming the images into rusted scars. The grittiness of the found materials and rust coloured designs is offset by the muted pastel colours the panels are decorated with. Its a very unusual combination of techniques and it produces striking results.

There are a few images from the exhibition below, and you can find a full set of images on facebook here

But if you can, it’s much better to see it in person. “A las chapas” is held at Hollywood in Cambodia gallery until the end of March.

(Hollywood in Cambodia / Thames 1885 / Open 18-21, Tuesday to Sunday)

On walls throughout the city you can find huge portraits of former lovers and his brother. More curiously you can also find portraits of Chihuahua dogs, Chairman Mao and a crack dealer from Los Angeles called Miguel, whose police mugshot on google images caught Ever’s eye.

A four metre portrait begs some questions. The most obvious being “why is this here and what does it mean?”

This is part of what we love about Ever’s work. He plays with expectations of what public art is supposed to represent. A four metre portrait of Ever’s brother usually leads people to conclude that he must be dead, and the painting is an homage. A huge mural featuring the face of Chairman Mao leads people to assume that the artist has a political agenda. And the smirking profile of Miguel the crack dealer leaves people wondering who this character is, and what he has done to merit being beautifully recreated at scale.

A recent trip to Mexico has left Ever inspired by the power of muralism, and looking for new ways to interact and communicate with the public through his paintings.

Following on from his portraits of Chairman Mao, his latest piece uses a visual aesthetic found in Chinese propaganda posters. The piece counterpoints a communist propaganda poster celebrating a new bridge and railway line with a waving golden lucky cat – a mass produced piece of plastic found the world over.

The text at the bottom of the image explains that children are observing the progress of a communist city, following the arrival of capitalism. Ever explained that he wanted to represent a clash of cultures and the contradictions it produces. China lives the contradiction of a communist regime embracing capitalism, whilst Latin America wrestles with its indigenous cultural roots and its history with Europe.

There are lots of interesting personal touches to the painting. It’s inspired by Mexican social realist muralists, but Ever has chosen to use images from Chinese propaganda because it suits the aesthetic he’s been exploring.

The text below the image is written in French, because Ever attributes his political perspectives to the time he spent in France.

And whilst this is a mural with a message, inspired by history and painted beautifully in a classic style, it’s location says “graffiti” as opposed to “institutionally sanctioned mural”. The mural is fairly well hidden by a tree, and is painted on the front wall of a squat, next door to a busy parilla.

Graffiti can be a challenging term to define.

Is it any marking scratched into or painted on any flat surface, as the latin word “grafito” itself originally indicated? Is it an illicit letter based form of art, painted in aerosol on walls & trains? The Buenos Aires based artist Nerf claims the title graffiti writer, but is perhaps best known for his futuristic abstract style which defies categorisation.

Nerf first began exploring graffiti when he discovered the New York graffiti movement and hip hop culture in the late 90s. He quickly mastered the use of aerosol, and developed a style that rivalled the best writers in terms of technique, style and complexity.

Though Nerf continues to use his name as the basis of many pieces, employing his own unique stylized approach to lettering, he has also developed a parallel style that crosses over completely into abstraction. Fascinated by forms and the way they fit together, Nerf uses toy blocks and puzzles as his inspiration for complex isometric 3D forms.

Creating three dimensional forms on a two dimensional surface requires an extraordinary amount of practice, patience and skill. Many other artists rely on sketches and painters tape to help them create an image and manage perspective. Some will even use computer modeling software & projectors to create an image. The precision of the lines and angles is fundamental, as well as the subtle development of light and shadow, and the layering and shading of colors done to achieve the impressive visual effect. If any of these elements is even slightly off, the impact is lost completely.

Whilst many artists incorporate 3D elements in their pieces, very few are able to work as intuitively and spontaneously as Nerf. Without the aid of a sketch, guides or any visual aids, Nerf approaches walls with nothing more than the colours he’s chosen for the day. His organic 3D masterpieces are created completely freehand.

Nerf’s development as a writer and an artist reflects a broader evolution within the scene. As with all art movements, graffiti has evolved as writers tested the boundaries and experimented with new techniques.

There are writers who insist upon a strict and narrow definition of what graffiti is and isn’t, and many have little tolerance for pieces which deviate from “old school” letters.

Nerf has no qualms about describing himself as a graffiti writer, whilst continuing to adapt and change his style. Neither does he have any issues painting with other artists from very different backgrounds. The mutability of his 3D cubes allows him to mesh with just about any style, and create spectacular and unique collaborative murals.

When all is said and done, “graffiti” much like “street art” is just a label. Labels conjure up certain things to certain people. There are broad and narrow interpretations of what labels mean, and interpretations change between cultures and over time.

Nerf’s work isn’t defined by his style, his techniques or the locations in which he paints. Nerf’s work is ultimately defined by Nerf himself.

Melissa Foss

We love cycling, and have wanted to run a bike tour for ages. So we’re very happy to have partnered up with the excellent people from Biking Buenos Aires and now run a tour on two wheels every Sunday afternoon.

Riding through the streets is one of the best ways to get to know the barrios of Buenos Aires. Cycling around gives you a different perspective on the urban walls, and is a great way to explore and find hidden street art pieces.

Many of the artists rely on their bikes to help them scout out new walls to paint. Some artists like Gualicho even take their paints with them as they cycle, so that they can start work straight away whenever they find a good spot.

For those interested, the graffitimundo bike tour lasts about 4 hours and is $35 USD for the tour, bike & helmet hire and refreshments. We take a leisurely ride around some of the lesser-known spots in Palermo before heading up to Villa Crespo to see fresh pieces by artists such Mart, Jaz, Zumi, Ever, Nasa, Nerf, rundontwalk & Stencil Land to name but a few.

As with all our tours,  our close relationships with artists and intimate knowledge of the scene allows us to reveal the stories behind the art, the different styles and techniques on display together with the cultural and historical context of the movement.

The tour is run in collaboration with the Biking Buenos Aires crew, who keep everyone safe on the road, maintain the bikes and make sure we’re topped up with water, maté and biscuits.  For more images of the tour, the Travel Chica has some great shots on her blog.

Just shoot us a mail if you’d like to join us, a shiny playera bike and the colourful stories behind the walls await.

(All images are by Mart, and are taken from his flickr)

mart

mart