From Bogota “Este Territorio Tambien Es Nuestro”

In a city where public graphic expressions are defined as a symptom of low standards of living and education, the wave of redefining what it means to reclaim spaces through throw ups, bombing and large scale murals, continues to fortify a new sense of citizenship and belonging. Bogota carries a lot of burred histories and identities that are making their way toward becoming visible as efforts of expression geared to “include” rather than “seclude” become a higher priority in contemporary cities.

Last July, Bogota Street Art participated in the First Meeting of Writers and Urban Art in Bogota, as part of a public policy that aimed to change the perception of graffiti and street art in the city. This video shows the process of combing artists from Colombia and Peru in one strip of 26h Street, a highway that splits downtown Bogota in half and stretches all the way to the airport. Participating  artists include Guache (Bogotá), Toxicomano (Bogotá), Lesivo (Bogotá), Entes & Pesimo (Peru), and Elliot Tupac (Peru).

Video courtesy of Albeiro Toro Ayala

First Meeting of Writers and Urban Art in Bogotá (Part 1)

Elliot Tupac
Elliot Tupac

Last week, the First Meeting of Writers and Urban Art – 26th Street  – kicked off in Bogotá, brought you by IDARTES (District Institute of the Arts.) Participating in these interventions are groups that obtained a grant from the city to work on recreating new expressions in the urban space.

Participating  artists include Guache (Bogotá), Toxicomano (Bogotá), Lesivo (Bogotá), Perversa (Bogotá), Vertigo Graffiti (Bogotá), Entes & Pesimo (Peru), and Elliot Tupac (Peru), Jade (Peru).

Here are some process shots of the murals:

Guache
Guache
Entes & Pesimo
Entes & Pesimo
Lesivo
Lesivo
Vertigo Graffiti
Vertigo Graffiti
Perversa
Perversa

Stay tuned for more updates!

Photos courtesy of Camilo Ara

South America’s wave of street art festivals: Latido Americano (Peru)

Sego
Sego

The world of street art has changed dramatically in the past decade, so much so that there is a rigid culture of how to do street art, where to do it, and how it is organized. Some tradition remains of clandestine artistry and evasive messages found plastered in urban centers all throughout the world, but we have culminated a new practice of presenting street art in a more organized, institutionalized form: the street art festival.

This somewhat new phenomena in the movement of street art has exposed new audiences to this form of expression and many that had previously associated graffiti, street art, public art with illegality and rebellion, are currently beginning to see some street artists as artist with merit, some admiration, who are worth the visibility of the streets. I believe this shift in public opinion about street art arrives with the creation of street art festivals popping up in every hemisphere. Street art festivals appeal to cities because it beautifies them and a city that takes part in any dialogue that involves art, culture and discursive action is a city that is partaking in modernity and resourcefulness (another word that I am using to substitute the otherwise very well known systems of capitalism and neoliberalism…) Before you assume that I am against street art festivals or that they serve to sell an idea of art that is very far removed from the origins of what street artists intended to do in the 70s in subway trains, I confirm that I see a lot of positive shifts when cities participate in street art festivals. Maybe I am biased after working for a non profit that puts together a yearly conference and concepts throughout the year, but I can assure anyone and be a witness to the progressive changes that art can bring to a community that has traditionally separated art from public knowledge and participation. Elitist practices are shaken up when a group of young dreamers get together and create more noise in the art community than their local modern art museum, this seems to be important and a pretty damn good use of grass roots tactics and a flavor of elusiveness (cause let’s face it, street art festivals don’t satisfy everyone and we gotta work with some mastery of vagueness to put up murals that scream cultural codes that are otherwise ignored.)

Based on my experience it has not been easy to participate in festivals, it is the hardest job you can think of in the art world. Little to no pay, blow up mattresses (if we are lucky), sleep deprivation, and nasty weather, but it is the best experience I have been a part of. But it never occurred to me, despite all the roadblocks and sweat, blood and tears, just how plausible it is to program and direct a successful festival in the United States, I could not imagine with honesty and certainty how different it is in other places…

That is until I spoke with Entes &Pesimo last year when they began planning Latir Latino. It appeared difficult to me mainly because some of the decisions that we took when organizing the conference, could not happen in places like Lima. Decisions like rejecting corporate sponsorships or work with big brands to aid our mission are some that are limiting when working in different societies with more restricting economic options. So okay, means are tougher to come by, donations (and its culture) are hard to make when people have barely anything to get by and disposable income does not exist… These were the tactics I was familiar with and none of those worked for Entes & Pesimo, but they successfully launched Latir Latino, along with a documentary.

Entes & Pesimo. Click to view large.
Entes & Pesimo. Click to view large.

This year, the pair launched Latido Americano and in order to avoid some of the corporate aspects of a festival, they decided to work with the city of Lima and its downtown municipality to create murals in the heart of the city. Their intent to create a festival in Lima, in South America, focused on creating a new wave of movement that comes from within, creating from the periphery that is South America, and to maintain more influence in the many faces of street art and the festivals that usually occur in the United States and Europe. Since then, many other festivals have taken place and many more are in the works… So I decided to give a special focus to this new wave of Latin American street art festivals, they are occurring at an incredible speed and I promise to keep you all up to date…

I want to share with you the first installment of this series that will show the happenings in South America, while also introducing new contexts from where these festivals are held. This will be a space to discuss and watch all the creativity and formation of a new influence in street art: Latin America.

After the jump are a few shots from Latidoamericano March 2013… Continue reading “South America’s wave of street art festivals: Latido Americano (Peru)”

Entes and Pesimo in Pamplona Alta, Peru

Pesimo & Entes
Pesimo & Entes

Last month, Entes and Pesimo participated in a grassroots project Alegrarte in Lima, Peru. This initiative stands out to me, particularly because of its focus to exist outside the city’s various arts districts. Alegrarte focused on bringing artists, such as Entes & Pesimo to decorate, revive and uplift Pamplona Alta, a shantytown in the outskirts of Lima. This is the project’s first go, and I’m hopeful that more attention will be brought to areas such as this; areas that do not have a potable water source, roads, or available long term educational opportunities.

Pesimo
Pesimo

Pamplona Alta is home to hundreds of families that settled in the mid to late 1980s, as a response to violence brought by The Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso), a revolutionary group known for its violence and extreme measures of political revolt. This growing township still struggles  with developmental and infrastructural dilemmas; thankfully artists and various non-profit organizations aim to beautify the town in more than one way, and as a response I’m hoping to see more attention brought to larger scale problems. Art is powerful, voilà!

Entes
Entes

Photos courtesy of Entes & Pesimo

And one last thing about Miami

Jade. Photo by Jade

This is (probably) my last post about the outdoor work at Basel Miami 2011. Here’s a somewhat random selection of pieces that went up this year by Entes, Jade, Col, Anthony Lister, Free Humanity, Pez, Chanoir, How and Nosm, Greg LaMarche, Romi, Aeon, Haze, Aaron De La CruzJohn Wendelbo, Mare139, Gaia and others. Some of the walls are from Graffuturism’s In Situ project, and you can find a full set of those walls on their site along with an introduction to that project written by Haze.

Gaia. Photo by Mike Pearce
Haze. Photo by Clams Rockefeller

More after the jump… Continue reading “And one last thing about Miami”

Miami murals captured in progess

Eine

Mike Pearce was in Miami last week taking photos of the murals getting painted. As it has been over the past few years, Wynwood was overrun (in, I think, a good way) for about a week with artists working outdoors on any wall they could get permission to paint or get away with painting. Here are a few of Mike’s pictures of the artists at work…

La Pandilla
Free Humanity, Anthony Lister and Col
Pixel Pancho
Augustine Kofie
Greg Mike
Hebru
Tati Suarez
Entes and Jade
Buff Monster
Trek 6

Photos by Mike Pearce

Even more from Living Walls

Ever and Freddy Sam. Photo by nickmickolas

In what is likely the second-t0-last post of murals from Living Walls in Atlanta, here’s work by Ever, Freddy Sam, Never, Gawd, Labrona, OverUnder, LNY, Sharktoof, Feral Child, Entes and Pesimo.

Feral Child. Photo by Feral Child
Labrona, Overunder and Gawd. Photo by nickmickolas
Entes and Pesimo. Photo by nickmickolas
Never. Photo by nickmickolas
LNY. Photo by nickmickolas
Sharktoof. Photo by Greg Mike

Photos by Greg Mike, Feral Child and nickmickolas