Graffiti art in Buenos Aires | Graffitimundo
From the elongated runic letting of Sao Paulo’s class-driven “pichação” street artists to Banksy’s highly prized hit-and-run stencil work in London, graffiti has developed its own distinct cultural nuances from country to country since the Wild Style spray can subway attacks in New York City in the 1970s. Nowhere more so than the graffiti art in Buenos Aires.
Some of the most intriguing and beautiful work can be seen in Argentina’s most cosmopolitan urban hub. The local Graffitimundo collective – founded in 2009 – is a group of like minded artists, curators and accidental gallerists, responsible for ongoing workshops, several international exhibitions and the outdoor Street Arte BA events.
They are currently working on a feature-length documentary – White Walls Say Nothing – about the street art movement in the city since the economic collapse in Argentina at the turn of the century. They also regular offer walking tours of the city’s most inventive, stunning and frequently moving street art, much of it made by brush and traditional paints rather than by spray and stencil (sprays were in short supply during times of economic crisis). It’s one of our favourite things to do in Buenos Aires and we can’t recommend it enough. The tour ends with drinks at the Post Bar, a fantastic dive with walls entirely covered by stencil art, and a gallery upstairs. The Krylon-decorated toilets alone are awe inspiring.
One of Graffitimundo’s founders, Marina Charles, introduces a gallery of pieces for Civilian, capturing a few significant pieces and styles in a city that has become one huge gallery.
All photography © Graffitimundo
“Ever is a former graffiti writer, now a muralist, and one of the rising stars of the Bueno Aires urban art scene. As he moved further away from graffiti, Ever experimented with more conceptually motivated pieces, and a more traditional ‘painterly’ style, such as this giant portrait of a chihuahua, meant to refer to materialistic cultural tendencies.”
“Gualicho uses a strange language of symbols and ambiguous figures to explore different facets of human nature. His works are heavily influenced by folk art, religious icons, comic graphics and 60s psychedelia. He is a creator who is constantly on the move, searching for increasingly larger walls to paint.”
“Jaz's minotaurs in Colegiales: through blending unconventional materials such as asphaltic paint and petrol, Jaz developed artistic techniques to paint huge murals which resemble delicate watercolours. His comfort working at enormous scales, his unique style and unconventional use of materials have set him apart from his contemporaries.”
“As part of the FASE collective, the artist Tec was a driving creative force behind a graphic design influenced form of street art, noticeable for its use of latex paint, bright colour, friendly characters and positive attitude. The movement was hugely influential in defining the aesthetics and philosophy of urban art in the years following the 2001 economic crash.”
“Buenos Aires Stencil's iconic 'Mighty Jesus' image in Casa Cuberta, part of an urban renewal project in Parque Patricios. One of the first groups to begin painting in the streets following the Argentine economic crash, bs.as.stncl was motivated by the potential for expression and communication through urban interventions. Their early work had strong political undertones, created to communicate clear messages to its urban audience. Over time their pieces became less overtly political, and more subversive of popular icons and cultural figures.”
"Stencil Land's oversized stencil of a child holding a paint brush above political graffiti on Avenue de Mayo. Stencil Land creates original concepts through the manipulation of images, which often subvert the associations we have with them. Stencil Land’s pieces are striking in terms of content, level of complexity and detail.”
“This huge stencil work by rundontwalk is a composite face featuring Janet Leigh and Argentine icons La Mona Jimenez and Juan Peron. rundontwalk was one of the earliest art collectives to begin painting after the economic crisis of 2001. While stencil art in other countries became popular as a way of minimising time spent painting in the street, rundontwalk have taken full advantage of the relative tolerance shown to street art in Buenos Aires. Over time the collective’s work has become increasingly ambitious in complexity and scale, resulting in masterful stencils that would be impossible to put up in less permissive environments.”