Barcelona’s Disenfranchised Street Art

Barcelona has an interesting and unique vibe when in comes to the. Street art scene. By way if what’s out there you see way more tagging than actually artistic expression. Most surfaces are fair game, including churches and sides of buildings on main thoroughfares and the government has done a lot to crack down in street art on building facades. In particular, there are certain districts where shop owners are fined for hiring street artists to create works in their facades / doors (for when they roll down and lock up at night) rather than having taggers randomly mark their territory.

Many shop owners actually seek to encourage constructive artistic expression to support this disenfranchised scene an make the streets more aesthetic but the local governments see. I difference between tag scribble and actual art so they penalize shop owners for their patronage of the arts instead of encouraging it. There are actually websites shop owners can go to to find the artists whose style they prefer.

That being said, examples of the best and the worst are at every turn. No Banksy or Space Invaders on my watch but still some interesting expression. Here is a walk through some of what I captured in my hunt for something special.