Graffiti. Valencia street art
When we go to a new city, museums are not on the top of our list with things to visit, especially when we don’t have much time. We admit, we’re not really fans of spending hours looking at paintings, we prefer to walk around the city and discover it that way. And this is how we discover another form of art, the urban art, with colorful graffiti that bring a new life to old buildings. Some time ago, graffiti was considered a form of vandalism, some paintings that ruin a building’s facade. In the meantime, things have changed. Done the wright way, some graffiti is a real work of art. And this is why we like to discover as many „paintings” when we explore a new city.
Before we came to Valencia we read that it is a city that has many graffiti art, but we didn’t plan ahead and look up where they are. We preferred to walk around the streets and discover them on our own. And we weren’t disappointed…we came across graffiti on almost every street we’ve been to. The urban artists transformed the streets in an open-air museum, covering fences, walls and even buildings facades with ingenious pictures, each artist having its signature style.
The place where you’ll find the most graffiti is El Carmen neighborhood, a place with abandoned and run down houses some years ago. It was the perfect place for the artists to show their creativity and bring a new life to the neighborhood and they are encouraged to transform it into a colorful place. There are still some run down houses, but the contrast with the colorful graffiti give El Carmen a cool vibe.
When it comes to urban artists, Valencia’s most known one is Escif. His works can usually be seem on an entire wall and his most famous piece in Valencia is the one with the cars in Plazza Tossal. On the building next to this you’ll find another famous piece, the one representing Moses and his serpent beard by Italian artist Blu. In Plazza Tossal you’ll also find Fasim’s abstract piece, „Stop War Victims”.
An artist that we liked a lot is Julieta. You’ll immediately recognize heavily influenced Japanese style because in most of her pieces you’ll see a girl with closed eyes. You can’t walk through El Carmen or Ruzafa without seeing her kawaii-inspired paintings with the cute girl with hair in different colors.
When it comes to street art, Carrer De Na Jordana was one of our favorite streets in Valencia. You’ll find a wall full of beautiful graffiti, covering the whole street. The paintings here are more SF, with Deih having some pieces here (the one with the eye is absolutely amazing). At the end of the street you’ll find a cool realistic painting, with a girl holding a cup, Xolaka’s piece.
