Há um ano...

Bom, há um ano que me mudei para São Paulo e tenho que dizer que adoro esta cidade!
Claro que sinto muitas saudades dos meus amigos e família no Reino Unido e a Espanha, mas a diversidade que São Paulo alverga só enriquece minha experiência ao redor do mundo.

As ruas da capital Paulistana são como as páginas de um livro. Cada dia te contam uma história diferente, cada dia uma nova forma de expressão artística surge na cidade!

Neste primeiro post em português, vou falar sobre um tema um tanto polêmico que desde que vi o filme Cidade Cinza, tem ocupado minha cabeça.

Eu, como amante da arte de rua, deveria defender os direitos dos artistas a quer preservar suas obras e se expressar abertamente, mas me encontro em um pequeno dilema comigo mesma neste sentido. No filme falavam o mão que muitos artistas se sentem quando vem que seu trabalho de horas e inclusive dias têm sido destruído e apagado. Por outro lado cade o direito da pessoa que salva uma grana suficiente para se comprar uma casinha modesta, pinta-la nas cores que deseja e no dia seguinte aparece com a fachada "grafitada" ou "pinxada"? A questão é: aqueles que buscam uma forma de se expressar ou revelar contra o sistema estão ao mesmo tempo suprimindo a liberdade de expressão dos outros? Realmente são pessoas talentosas de classes sociais discriminadas querendo falar para o mundo, ou pelo contrario são filhos de papai achando-se estar na moda e procurando a atenção dos seus ricos pais?

Um grafite me comunica talento, vontade de fazer algo para mudar o mundo, vontade de alegrar as pessoas que a cada dia passam pela mesma rua com a mesma rotina de sempre, uma mente criativa que não se rende a ser miserável. Uma pixacão me comunica inconformismo, fechamento, e rechaço a essa sociedade que eles mesmos sustentam.

Cidade Cinza - The beauty of a changing city

Two weeks ago, on November 22nd 2013, 'Cidade Cinza' was launched at few cinemas in Brazil.

The documentary, features big names of Sao Paulo's graffiti scene, and talks about the irony of having removed paintings from well renowned artist, like the 'OsGemeos', from the streets of the capital whilst these same artists are exposing at famous galleries around the world.

Besides agreeing with the principle that graffities made by talented artists add colour to grey, boring cities and, of course, that the government should spend our money combating crime and more important matters than 'cleaning' the walls of the streets. I believe that 'expiration' is part of the game, and that the beauty of street art is that it's changing all the time, it's not permanent and, in many cases, it's illegal, therefore created under certain circumstances that made the works what they are. If everyone was allowed to paint what they wanted, take their time in doing it and having their creations preserved, graffities, and street art in general, wouldn't be as impressive.

Let's be honest, there are two roles in the society here; one is for the people that fight against the system using art as their weapon, and the other one is for the regulatory bodies that fight back. Referring to my previous post Street Art vs Arte de Rua it's thanks to that, that the techniques are evolving. Without control and adrenaline it would be too easy and boring!

While Sao Paulo's prefecture is busy painting the walls grey, I will be busy searching for new artists and beautiful paintings...

Dear Mayor, there are many serious problems in this city that need solving!
Don't waste time & money erasing graffiti on the streets!
Source: http://nanicolina.com

Sao Paulo's council workers painting the streets grey.
Source: https://www.facebook.com/cidadecinzafilme

Street Art vs Arte de Rua

Everyone knows that the traffic here in the city of São Paulo is not the best, and while I spend an hour sitting on a crowded bus, a lot of things come to my mind, so, what I am about to say may seem very obvious to many, but is something that I've just recently realised.

If you look at the street art you find in London vs. what you'd find in São Paulo, there is a clear difference. São Paulo artists are generally more about graffiti, hand free draws with vibrant colours whilst the British focus a lot on stencil, little sculptures or ready made print screens that are pasted onto walls... The reason?? - Is not just the Banksy influence - is the security!! 

The English capital counts with thousands of cameras that are connected to a very effective police, so the artists have to be very quick if they don't want to get caught with the subsequent fine and possible arrest (this week the Space Invader has been reportedly arrested in NYC ). The solution? - pre-ready made creations that take less time to spray, paste or glue to the walls, and possibly with more expensive materials that can be afforded by art students and well-known/well-paid artists.

In Brazil the reality is different, there are barely no cameras, and it's definitely not the priority of the police to run to stop someone spraying at wall when there are many other more important crimes to resolve. Two Sundays ago, I found someone painting a beautiful well detailed graffiti here near to my house in a quite posh area of the city, at 4pm and nobody seemed to be bothered about it. At the end of the day they add a little fun to this enormous metropole :-)

And just another observation, whilst the street art in London doesn't have a very long-lasting life - unless is painted by Banksy and ridiculously protected by the council - the paintings in São Paulo last much longer because there are no resources to clean them... thanks God for that!

Graffiti in Liberdade, Sao Paulo

Stencil on the walls of London's Old Street/Bricklane area