Good Graf: Santiago Graffiti-Villavicencio

I love good graf. Graffiti art, street art, urban expression, bright colors, and freedom in design. And,in my opinion, Chilean graffiti is some of the best. As promised, I will be posting some of my “Good Graf” photos from time to time. (Remember Río Mapocho? And the “official” mural in front of Diego Portales?)

Graf fans… lucky day!

All of these Santiago graffiti shots were taken on May 14, 2009; the art is on a formerly blank wall along Av. Villavicencio, near Lastarria. Specifically, it’s the wall that was put up around the backside of the old Diego Portales Building reconstruction site  (soon to be the Gabriela Mistral Cultural Center). I’m calling it Villavicencio 336 because there was an address plaque with that address at one end.  Oh yeah, and a disclaimer… I know these were taken at the wrong time of day (yes, I do know those unsightly shadows do not reflect the artists’ best work–nor mine). These were grab shots taken with a fairly decent point and shoot that I keep with me at all times… a pretty handy thing for a blogging graffiti fan to have within arm’s reach!

I did a bit of poking around to find out who’s behind this work. It seems pretty clear that it’s a group work–there are individual pieces and certain styles that come through loud and clear, while other pieces seem to have contributions from multiple artists. But while I did come up with some leads, it will take more time than I have today folks, so if you already do know something about this work, I bet I’m not the only one who would like to know more!

Here goes, from left to right:

Birthday Love (MST Villavicencio 336)

This piece was off to the side and does not appear to really be part of the rest of the wall.

Vazko/Basco? Piguan? Santana? (MST Villavicencio 336)

I originally thought this was a Vazko (Basco)… but there’s a name written on top that makes me wonder. Also, his work and Piguan’s are similar in some ways and I KNOW Piguan was there that day, but no other clues lead me to Vaszko. Does anyone know for sure?

**Update** Now I’m thinking this is Santana, one of the KiltrV group… Still want confirmation!

Nebs Pereira "We Are C3" (MST Villavicencio 336)

I found a Flickr site for We Are C3. Note it’s in English. Wonder why…
And a reference to the  Santiaguino street artist Nebs Pereira who signed the piece. His blog Arte Ingrato has great work but takes forever to open.

Piguan Woman (MST Villavicencio 336)

Piguan is another Santiago graf star…so here… take a closer look:

Piguan Woman Detail (MST Villavicencio 336)

You can see more about Piguan and his work at Spacejunk.

(MST Villavicencio 336)

(MST Villavicencio 336)

tp? Josefa? (MST Villavicencio 336)

Wild Style tag (MST Villavicencio 336)

More wild style (MST Villavicencio 336)

Miners (MST Villavicencio 336)

These three pieces are separate but united and are the only ones with such clear social commentary. Look at the different artistic styles used here!

(MST Villavicencio 336)

Note the Mapuche kultrun (indigenous drum) in the central figure’s hand and the references to invasive, destructive logging practices.

Caliche. Food lines (MST Villavicencio 336)

Now for a special treat from the Colectivo KiltrV (Nebs, Santana, Naska, Piguan & Rayner)

Santiago Graffiti: Río Mapocho

I love graffiti. No… not “that” kind… I’ve never really understood the territoriality of marking tags (a graffiti writer’s initials or a special identifying mark) over and over on all sorts of public and private property…

Certainly not when they write on houses or hit my car a few years ago:

Tagged door (2008), Tagged car (2003)

But I do love street art… those unexpected “joyitas”… artistic surprises that pop up like mushrooms in the forest. I love the unpredictability of their appearance—the double-take and “Wha? That wasn’t there yesterday!” I also love their ephemeralness (huh? Where’d it go? I know it was here…oh wait, that’s it, under that fresh coat of white paint). It’s about color and abstractness and creativity. The joy of turning a corner and discovering a new piece—and I’ve been known to yell “stop the car!” on many an occasion when I spot something new.

Santiago and Valparaíso are full of truly creative work, and I shoot it whenever I can. I had planned on doing a more in-depth post with a selection of shots from different areas, but checking through my photo files, I see too many to choose from (and far to many to publish at once), so I’ve changed my plans. I’ll be throwing up graf shots from time to time as a way of documenting them and alerting anyone interested about where to find them… a sort of graffiti tour, if you will.

I also want to mention that although Berlin has an international reputation for its graffiti, as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t hold a candle to what’s going on in Chile. Sure, there were tags everywhere—barely an untouched spot in the city—but it wasn’t art. It was primarily a collection of hastily posted “I was heres” repeated over and over again rather than thought out, well-planned pieces that actually take talent and time.

There are many areas of Santiago that are well known for their graf: Santa Isabel, Bellavista, and Quinta Normal, just to name a few… and we’ll get to them in time, but I want to start with a couple Santiago classics on the banks of the Río Mapocho. For anyone who hasn’t seen these pieces, they are viewable from the south side of the river looking northward… as in from Costanera looking toward Bellavista.

Fishermen Illusion, Río Mapocho, by Nicole, Grin, Ceris, Siek & Derik (photo Nov 2008)

By the way… look closely… there’s really no bridge there!

Mapocho River Sunbather by Grin (photo Nov 2008)

Río Mapocho Tags (photo Nov 2008)

For more on Chile’s Street Art, see:

Street Art Chile: New Mural for Diego Portales

Street Art Chile: New Mural for Diego Portales

Santiago Centro: Little Chinchinero

I love graffiti. Street art. Legal or illegal (with or without permission), I am happy to see artistic expression in spaces that would otherwise be blank or filled with commercial advertising. Of course I’m not talking about vandalistic magic marker scribbling, but rather true works of urban art. Chile has an impressive and particularly rich culture of urban art that stretches back for decades. Forget what New Yorkers have to say about subway graffiti in the 70s or hip hop in the 80s. Chile has a long tradition that not only tolerates, but even encourages, artistic expression in public places.

For months now I have been photographing graffiti whenever and wherever I can, and will get around to writing about and showing it here in Cachando Chile, but I had a pleasant surprise today that I just had to share.

A fire in 2006 destroyed one of the city’s most emblematic buildings, Diego Portales, on Alameda, downtown, next to the Universidad Católica Metro Station. It was a dark and dreary eyesore with significant social history, although for years I thought it was a parking garage. It was even more miserable as the blackened shell that stood for years before its fate was defined. It is now under construction and will be reborn as the Gabriela Mistral Cultural Center.

Santiago Centro: Organ grinder

And even though the inaugural date is still off in the future, the building is already marking its cultural destiny. Through an initiative of the Ministry of Culture, the wall that blocks the property along Alameda (Santiago’s main street) is now painted with an enormous 300m2 mural that represents Chile from north to south.

The 3-part project began with artistic workshops in 15 marginal neighborhoods. Part 2 included workshops related to the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera exhibit in the La Moneda Cultural Center, and the final step was to have the groups paint their interpretations of what Chile is to them. All the symbols are there, from llamas in the north, to the penguins in the south, and, of course, the dogs on the streets of Santiago in the middle! There are herdsmen, fishermen, chinchineros, organ grinders, fruit peddlers, dancers, poets, warriors, Mapuche women, and condors. There are mountains and oceans, deserts and ice fields, countryside and big cities. A bit of everything in one long, narrow strip–just like Chile.

Northern Chile: Andean man with zampoña

Northern Chile: La Tirana, Diablada dancer

Northern Chile: Observatories and fishing near La Serena

Northern Chile: Elqui Valley, Nobel Prize winner Gabriela Mistral

Central Chile: Chinchinero

Central Chile

Central Chile: Santiago street dog and Metro

Central Chile: Santiago, Fruit vendor

Central Chile: Huaso dancing the cueca and black clay pottery from Quinchamalí

Southern Chile: Mapuche warrior, grapes & condor

Southern Chile: Mapuche woman, Machi, and Araucaria trees

Southern Chile: Chiloe, fishing village

Southern Chile: Patagonia, Selknam, Onas, Yánamas

Southern Chile: Antarctica, penguins

Elvis Junior, alegrando mi día

No hay nada como un poco de Elvis -es decir, el mismísimo Elvis Junior chileno- para alegrar una tarde santiaguina.   Click here for English

Elvis Junior and his amazing homemade 1-man band

Santiago tiene su cuota de personajes, esas personas de la calle que todo el mundo reconoce, aquellos que son parte esencial del paisaje urbano y que aportan una dimensión humana que hace de esta ciudad un Santiago inequívocamente santiaguino.

(Foto: Elvis Junior, el increíble hombre orquesta casera)

Vivir en una gran ciudad tiene sus altibajos, pero hay algunas cosas capaces de transformar un día cualquiera en uno especial. Una de ellas es Elvis Junior, un personaje “total” que aparece en los lugares más insólitos de la ciudad (y afuera), tocando su singular y bien casera batería, hecha de baldes, ollas, latas, tubos, elásticos y todo un montón de objetos común-y-corrientes que él mismo transforma en un tesoro de la percusión. Y es diferente cada vez que lo veo. Siempre que me encuentro con él, cualquiera sea mi estado de ánimo anterior, es capaz de hacerme sonreír. ¿Cómo no?

(Foto: Elvis Junior en la Alameda frente a la Biblioteca Nacional, Santiago)

Elvis Junior on Alameda in front of the Biblioteca Nacional, Santiago

Ayer estaba acercándome a la Alameda, cerca de la Biblioteca Nacional y oí su sonido característico: un ritmo frenético al son de sus tambores de bidones, platillos y un estridente jadeo de un kazoo hecho de un tubo de plástico, alternando con su característicos gritos de estrofas sacadas de antiguas canciones, olvidadas ya desde hace décadas.

Elvis Junior me alegró el día. Agarré mi cámara y corrí hacia al bandejón central de la Alameda (al parecer tiene una predilección por tocar entre las pistas de la calle más transcurrida de Santiago). Como siempre, me saludó con su gran sonrisa, carente de algunos dientes. Yo por mi parte, le devolví la sonrisa junto a una buena propina. Seguí a mi casa feliz de ser parte de esta gran ciudad.

Elvis Junior, Brighten Up My Day

There’s nothing like a bit of Elvis—Chile’s own Elvis Junior, that is—to brighten up a Santiago afternoon. Para español, hacer click aquí

Elvis Junior and his amazing homemade 1-man band

Santiago has its share of characters… those folks on the street that everyone recognizes, people who are an essential part of the cityscape and who add to the human side of making this city unequivocally Santiago.

Living in a big city has its ups and downs, but there are some things that just make my day. One of them is Elvis Junior, a Santiago character who turns up in the most incredible places playing his…hmm… shall we say “artisanal” drum set made of old buckets, pots, pans, cans, and rubber bands… A whole slew of found objects that make their way into his percussive arsenal. It’s a different setup every time I see him… And every time I do, I come away with a big smile on my face.

Elvis Junior on Alameda in front of the Biblioteca Nacional, Santiago

Yesterday as I was approaching Alameda, near the National Library, I heard his distinctive sound, a frenetic drumbeat, complete with cymbals blaring and a wheezing kazoo (made from plastic tubing) alternating with his characteristic tell-tale one-line phrases picked up from a long-forgotten radio station.

It made my day. I grabbed my camera and rushed over to the median (he seems to have a thing about playing in the median between the rushing lanes of Santiago’s busiest downtown street). As always, he greeted me with his big gap-toothed grin and I, likewise, beam back with a grin of my own and a nice tip. We both went home happy.