Madrid’s Street Art: Vandalism or civic good?

MADRID – If you want to know a city, look at its walls and read its public surfaces. Here, you will encounter what local artists call the Madrid Street Art Project, a coordinated effort to turn public space into exhibitions of street art.

Based in the city’s working-class Lavapiés neighborhood, the Madrid Street Art Project is a non-profit organization that supports, highlights and promotes urban artwork by offering the public guided tours and workshops with local artists, among other activities.

Co-founder Guillermo de la Madrid Heitzmann said he and fellow local graffiti art enthusiast Diana Prieto Martín established the Project in 2012 in order to “encourage citizens to enjoy and support the creation of urban arts, as well to contribute to the discussion of artistic expression in public spaces around the city.”

The Madrid Street Art Project’s motto makes it clear that its artists take the term “public space” seriously, as space to be used by the public. The Project’s motto, translated from Spanish: “The truth is that the streets are common space for everyone to express ideas and convey beauty. They are vehicles for artistic creation and appreciation.”

A widely shared belief in Lavapiés is that “the art in the neighborhood is a welcome addition,” because otherwise the area could reasonably be judged to be “non-aesthetically pleasing,” Heitzmann said, politely.

Long-time Lavapiés resident Victor Gonzalez agreed, saying that “people in the local neighborhoods by and large view street art as a wonderful way to make beautiful what would otherwise be abandoned or unused space.”

Patrice Olivar, a new resident of Lavapiés, described the street art as “beautiful,” both aesthetically and functionally. She said the art gives the neighborhood color and makes it “different.”

For Lavapiés gelato shop owner Maria Rodriguez, the street art is much preferred over what is more common in urban areas – profane-laced graffiti.

“I prefer that the artists create pretty colorful work, because it brightens the neighborhood,” she said. 

Meeting opposition

In the face of resistance from the city, it has not been easy for Heitzmann and Martín to organize and sustain such a civic project, Heitzmann said.

“Madrid can be quite hostile to the art on the street,” he said. “There are not many city-driven initiatives that support street art aside from projects such as La Tabacalera Promoción Del Arte and The Madrid Street Art Project.”

The Madrid Street Art Project works with La Tabacalera, a former abandoned tobacco factory-turned-artspace, to promote street art in the local community through organizing various activities such as urban safaris (tours) and workshops with local artists.

La Tabacalera, which is also located in Lavapiés, is primarily an art gallery, but not as most might think of that term. For the past four years street artists have filled the government-funded building with their art, transforming a building that stood vacant for ten years (see related story). These artists have transformed its walls, both inside and out, into works of art for the public to enjoy.

Madrid controls what artists can and cannot do in public spaces, but without input from the artists or from those who appreciate what they are trying to do, Heitzmann said.

“The artists find the laws to be hypocritical,” he said. “The city council is essentially saying that while the streets are a public place for the public to use freely, there are still restrictions on how the spaces can be utilized.”

The tug-of-war over how and where artists can express themselves underlines the importance of La Tabacalera, which is sanctioned and even subsidized by the city. There is also a “legal” graffiti wall in the Atocha neighborhood of the city, site of the commuter train bombings by Al-Qaeda a decade ago.

 See their work

The slide show, “Filling the gap: Madrid Street Art”, features the work of several of La Tabacalera’s affiliated artists.

Here is some background on a few of the artists, whose work you can see in the accompanying slideshow. To protect themselves against reprisal from “official” powers, they use pseudonyms.

Nemo’s

Nemo’s, whose name translates from Latin as “No one’s,” said he began spray-painting 10 years ago in Milan, Italy. Because such spray painting is illegal, he said he found it difficult to express himself until he found refuge at La Tabacalera.

Because it is effectively sanctioned by the Madrid’s city government, La Tabacalera provides street artists spaces and surfaces for artists to safely spend as much time as they want to complete their pieces; they don’t have to run from the law or surreptitiously paint at night or on the move.

His most recent piece at La Tabacalera, a “before and after” collage, took him about a week to complete before it was posted to his personal website for the public to view.

Most of the Milanese artist’s work centers on images of a distorted body.

“I am trying to give a voice to the negative aspects of the human race through my work,” Nemo’s said.

Graffiti artists have inspired his work, he said, including that of Banksy, a pseudonymous artist based out of the United Kingdom. Nemo’s does not follow Banksy’s direction in terms of style, but he said he is inspired by Banksy’s subversive imagery and his need to have his work mean something to the world.

“I hope that viewers of my work find deep meaning on a personal level,” Nemo’s said.

 Ze Carrion

Ze Carrion said he has been painting illegally and legally for 18 years. What started as a childhood hobby turned into lifelong work.

 All artists hope that they convey a message to the viewer through their work, he said, and for his work specifically, he said he hopes to “to shed light on governmental control of public communication, such as the government’s control of the telephone lines and the Internet.” Another topic for Ze Carrion’s work is police violence.

A range of artists inspires his work, he said, from the Spanish great Diego Velázquez to Banksy, a well-known graffiti artist, film director and activist based in the United Kingdom.

Ze Carrion said he feels that graffiti and art have grown together to become one entity, and that he hopes “to close the gap between artwork viewed as vandalism and art viewed as a masterpiece.”

Ciril23

Originally from Chile, Ciril23 said he has been painting for nearly 30 years. His work goes against the mainstream because he said he is “drawn towards the idea of human experiences found in nature.” In embracing nature, Ciril23 said he is avoiding politics and partisanship.

Ciril23, who helped found La Tabacalera four years ago, said he cares a lot about the context of his pieces that are painted illegally, that he likes that his work on the streets gives everyone the opportunity to see his art, “especially someone who may have otherwise not had the chance to see art.”