Experience Barcelona
Sep 22nd, 2008 by DavePF
Barcelona! Famous for Gaudi, Picasso and Miro right? But what about Pablo López, Martín Carra land Guillermo Soria? Have you ever heard of these artists? I expect not; not unless you’re an urban art expert or happen to know them personally. Well, these are the names you need to be taking note of as they’re the ones who are transforming Barcelona’s modern art scene.
Have you ever noticed all the graffiti in Barcelona? It’s pretty hard not to! But the main reason for this isn’t because Barcelona is a run down city that has tags written on every wall and vandals hanging around on every corner, but because most of the graffiti in Barcelona seems to be impressive pieces of work and is considered as art. On most streets in the city, you can find at least one wall covered with a painting that will make you stop in your tracks.
That said, it’s inevitable, as in every large city, that there’s the usual tagging issue that seems to disgruntle everybody because lets face it, a scribble of someone’s name that you can’t actually read can’t be considered as art or even nice in most cases. This is why shop owners have started to commission graffiti artists to spray, paint, or whatever it is that they do, on their ‘persianas’ in order to stop vandals from defacing their shop fronts. This actually works due to the unwritten ‘code’ that most graffitists live by; if there’s a piece of art on a wall, you can’t spray over it in any way.
This has proved to be a controversial issue as some people consider paying people who once defaced the city’s walls as condoning vandalism. However, the artists in question were all once ‘vandals’ and most have paid various fines to the council. This is why they have decided to turn to more lucrative activities, putting their amazing talent to good use. Shopkeepers are all keen as they notice that painting their ‘persianas’ with art relative to their business draws attention to their shop or restaurant, even when they are closed. This way everyone wins; talented artists are rewarded and recognised and are no longer painting illegally, shopkeepers don’t need to worry about vandalism and get more attention drawn to their businesses and young artists have someone they can relate to as inspiration or to look up to.
Visit this website for examples of their work: http://www.decoracion-arte.blogspot.com/
Or if you’re lucky enough to be able to go to Barcelona and are interested in seeing examples of this new trend, here are some areas you need to visit:
Poble Sec: Barramon (Blai 28)
Garcia: Freaklub (Torrent de l’Olla 156) and Bulbo (Montseny 5)
Barri Gòtic; Taller de Bicicletas La Gallina (d’Ataülf 
and Fuji Sports (Ferran 44). Gran de Gracia 79 and Inopia at Tamarit 104.
Make sure to book your accommodation Barcelona well in advance as apatrments Barcelona get booked up quickly and hotel Barcelona are expensive.
