Street Art #PlanForTheGang

Graffiti is one of the best-known urban artistic expressions of the XNUMXst century, the name has its origin in the Greek word graphin, what does it mean to write 

It was in the 60's when he started in New York, influenced by hip-hop music; one of the first artists signed TAKI 183 and was interviewed by the New York Times in 1971. His real name was Demetrius and he was a young Greek who worked as a messenger in New York, painting his signature everywhere he delivered documents and packages. He became famous and many young people began to imitate him and look for more and more difficult and flashy places to leave his signature. The objective of these first graffiti artists was to leave their signature in the maximum number of places possible; the more dangerous the place where they signed, the more status they gained.

Parallel, Keith Haring (American artist and social activist whose work reflects the street culture of the 80s) began to paint his drawings in public places, first pasting posters and then painting directly on walls and the walls of New York subways.

The term urban art or street art refers to all street art, and encompasses both al graffiti as well as various other forms of street art expression. This “urban” graffiti is the expression or the cry against marginalization or oppression, it is the attack on private property with a simple reason: to be seen and heard. Thus, graffiti is characterized by being an art that is not only limited to expressing the lexical and visual elements that we all see, but also contains a strong charge of social criticism and is a transgressive expression of nonconformity.

On the other hand would be the Urban Mural Art, a manifestation of freedom of expression, at a time when commercial communication dominates public space. Its character is more monumental and it is, apart from being decorative, fundamentally didactic, since it tries to tell a reality that is understandable by all. The main technique is that of fresco on facades and places at street level, where a common space is used for all to express ideas and convey beauty.

Here we leave you some examples of urban art of the most recognized worldwide. Enjoy!

• Nudem Durak by Mahn Kloix (Marseille, France): It is the 2nd largest city in France and the Cours Julien area is home to numerous alternative neighborhoods in which street art is one of its greatest exponents. The tribute to Nûdem Durak (by Mahn Kloix), a Turkish singer of Kurdish origin and sentenced to prison for singing popular Kurdish songs, stands out.
• Don Quixote and Sancho Panza (Porto, Portugal): Although graffiti was prohibited in Porto, but in 2014 three local artists (Mesk, Fedor and Mots) were allowed to paint the first legal graffiti in the city, on Bombarda street, of 130m2.
• Granada (Spain): Raúl Ruiz, popularly known as 'The child of the paintings', began twenty years ago to paint graffiti in his native Granada about social reality. Here is one of his paintings on flamenco. 
• Ghent, Belgium: The fame of street art has given rise to the organization of the international festival of The Street Art Belgium in this city. Here we can find the famous “graffiti street” (Werregarenstraatje), a real canvas in the open air.
• Belén (Palestine): "Peace on Earth" (peace on earth), followed by an asterisk with the inscription "Terms and conditions apply", of the famous Banksy. He made it at the so-called door of the Milk Grotto, where the baby Jesus would have been hidden by Joseph and Mary to save him from the slaughter of the innocents ordered by Herod. Banksy is the most famous anonymous street artist of British origin globally, his works are satirical pieces on pop culture, morality, politics, consumerism or racism.
• Rijeka (Croatia), Pejac: Street artist born in Santander, also known as the Spanish Banksy, pays tribute to René Magritte with his work Camouflage.
• Prague (Czech Republic): One of the best-known works of street art in Prague is the John Lennon Wall near Kampa Park on the west side of the river. 
• Madrid, Boa Mistura Collective: Group of urban artists originated in Madrid at the end of 2001, their work is developed mainly in public spaces and their objective is to improve people's quality of life through their graphic work, materialized in plastic interventions in different environments and scales.
• Kruella d'Enfer (Oviedo): It is a cry for the care of nature with a representation of a brown bear accompanied by typical plants of the Asturian wild flora, such as berries (also bear food). The bear full of stars invites us to reflect on the danger of extinction in which this species is found and the importance of protecting it.
• The Kiss, by Erich Honecker and Leonidas Brezhnev (Berlin, Germany): Berlin has the largest concentration of graffiti in all of Europe. The Berlin Wall stands out, with 1,3 km of graffiti (East Side Gallery). One of the most acclaimed paintings is that of The Kiss.