Graffiti Tour

28 December 2013

Today I did the free Graffiti/Street Art tour of La Calendaria and surrounding areas. I had the difference between graffiti and Street art explained to me. Graffiti is words and names (tags) in stylized writing, kinda like calligraphy on crack, and Street art is pictures, which often have the tag of the artist on or near it.

Our guide was an Aussie guy called Christian who is a Street artista and has painted with many of the artists, and some of his artwork is up in La Calendaria, but most is closer to his home. He lives and works in Bogotá because here it is not illegal (frowned upon yes, but illegal no). The worst that can happen if caught is 24 hours in lock up, and that's only if you can't bribe the officer who catches you. Here is a link to his cacebook page: Crisp (facebook.com/Crispstreetart).

In La Calendaria Street art is actually encouraged. It reminds me of Valparaíso, Chile, and Newtown, Sydney in Australia. Most Street artists paint in broad daylight for better lighting and safety. A few years ago police shot and killed a young street artist, and then tried to cover it up. Only a huge protest produced justice. So the Street artists paint where lots of witnesses can see them.

    Los APC is the biggest gang of Street artists in Bogotá. These are some of the images painted by the founder.









Protest Art

 

 These artists are protesting the continued violence of the civil war. More tan 5 000 000 people have been displaced, and Colombia still holds the world's highest rate of amputations (land mines).

The top photo is of two tiles that are protesting for human rights, as there have been many deaths in the ongoing war, and human rights are being abused. The left photo shows a protestor throwing flowers instead of a molotov cocktail. The right shows a soldier with granade balloons, and the bottom is a sticker on the back of a stop sign calling for an end to the reign of voilence.

 

Top left: ''Now I can see it''. Protest on media brainwashing
Top right: Former president Álvaro Uribe Vélez with a crown on his head. Ran for two terms and tried to change the constitution so he could run a third time.
Bottom left: DJ Lu stencil with his slogan Juegasiempre (play always)
Bottom right: DJ Lu's tag

This is an older wall that protests the bull fighting. It isn't a Colombian cultural tradition but a Spanish one, and murdering 600 bulls for sport when no matador ever dies is hardly sport. Bull fighting is now illegal in Bogotá, even though it still happens in other cities in Colombia. However, this depends entirely on who is in political power, as it is still a very popular sport.

 

 This is an amazing 10 storey high mural based on a photo of two homeless people kissing. It's on the main road (Calle 26) heading to and from the airport.

 

 

This is the tag of Rodez. It is incredibly complex, so he doesn't tag all his work. He also includes the names of the other artists he paints with. Look him up!