Gun Shooting Hearts
DjLu Stencil. On Carrera 3. La Candelaria. Bogota, Colombia. (iPOD Touch, Instagram, Lo-Fi aspect) Girl with Dynamite
Lesivo. Carrera 4. Bogota, Colombia. (iPOD Touch, Instagram, Lo-Fi aspect) Dynamite
DjLu. Juegasiempre + Woman + Grenade. Outside of planetarium, off of Carrera 7. Bogota, Colombia.
Man with a Camera
I love this. It’s on the wall of a big indoor market in La Candelaria off of Carrera 2. AUG12. Bogota, Colombia. (iPAD, Instagram, Lo-Fi aspect)
Girl on a Lamppost
This mural is painted on the bottom of a lamppost on Carrera 7. AUG12. Bogota, Colombia. (iPOD Touch, Instagram, Lo-Fi aspect)
Einstein’s Love Equation
I can’t remember where I saw this, but I was glad I did. Somewhere in La Candelaria. AUG12. Bogota, Colombia. (iPOD Touch, Instagram Lo-Fi aspect)
This piece is on Carrera 2 in a very mural-laden area. AUG12. Bogota, Colombia.
Brand spanking new! This must have been put up within the past few days because for the longest time, this wall had a completely different mural. I was very excited to see this today. “Imagenes de Resistence” means “Images of Resistance.” This is a snippet of a much larger mural. I think it represents the indigenous people of Colombia. 25SEP12. Bogota, Colombia. (iPOD Touch, Instagram, Lo-Fi aspect)
Batman Loves Robin
Say whaa?! I hadn’t noticed this before and it’s on the street (Carrera 3) in La Candelaria that I walk up and down every day. No idea what it means. I mean, other than the obvious. 25SEP12. Bogota, Colombia. (iPOD Touch, Instagram, Lo-Fi aspect)
I take a picture of this one every time I walk by it. On Carrera 4 in La Candelaria. 25SEP12. Bogota, Colombia. (iPOD Touch, Instagram, Lo-Fi aspect)
This is a crazy, colorful birds gone wild in the universe mural! It was my first time to see it and I don’t know the artist, nor what it means. Standing so close to it getting a picture, did not do as much for me as getting home and looking at it with more perspective. 23SEP12. Bogota, Colombia.
Another one that I unfortunately don’t know what artist (#ASER) to give credit to…I walk by this guy every weekend on Calle 20 and he never changes. He’s always up to no good. Plus, he seems to know what I’m thinking. 23SEP12. Bogota, Colombia. (Canon 550D Canon Lens EF 28mm)
* Tokidoki hit the max space limit last week, so I am reconfiguring my blog in order to keep it running smoothly and to feature premier content only! So, I’ve been revisiting older posts and deleting and editing in an effort to streamline the content. Here is one of my first posts ever ~ as I started this blog while living in Bogotá, Colombia in 2012 and Bogotá is where my passion for street art and graffiti was born:
Please follow me on my journey as I seek to learn all about the street artists’ work that I admire so much here in Bogotá. For example, today I realized that a lot of the work that I thought was solely Lesivo’s, was really also Toxicomano’s and DjLu’s?! I found this out by researching what I could online and by also going through my pictures and seeing the distinctive styles. Well, they’re becoming more distinctive…
Throughout Bogotá, the city’s walls and its lampposts are covered, so the next logical surface are planter boxes. On Carrera 7, there are at least three blocks of planters decorated with the art of DjLu and Lesivo. I think they’re new as of this weekend. Bogotá appears proud of its artists and seems to consider their creations as something that beautifies the city.
DjLu Planter on Carrera 7
Lesivo planter
The picture above is a closer look at the type of stencil work that is on at least fifty planters on Carrera 7. “juegasiempre” means “always game.”
Also pictured above, is another planter box on Carrera 7. This time, it’s Lesivo! I think this mural refers to money being evil and how a person can start out beautiful, pure, and idealistic, but the influence of money can corrode one’s soul. I don’t understand the politics of Colombia enough to really say, but it appears to be a reference to the political leaders.
Toxicomano in the Macarena
I captured this shot out of a taxi window. “Somos muchos mas” directly translates into “We are so much more.” This is a beautiful mural by Toxicomano and it’s featured in the Macarena.
This is my favorite piece by Toxicomano. “Los Feos Somos Mucho Mas Bonitos” directly translates into “The Ugly are Much More Beautiful.” I have no facts to go on, but I interpret it as a political statement condemning the wealthy elite, saying that all citizens need to be heard and represented.
The picture above is one of my favorite symbolic Lesivo images. I like his inclusion of cameras and photographers in his works. I mentioned in a previous post that I think they represent the idea “…so that we don’t forget…” and I’m sure that phrase is referring to something political, but I have yet to uncover to exactly what . Stay tuned as I go deeper and deeper into the art on Bogotá’s streets (and walls and lampposts and planters and…) – All pictures: Bogotá, Colombia 23/24SEP2012
My three months are almost up in Bogota, and I’ve been looking for this CRISP mural for almost two of them. I finally had to get the address from the artist himself. I love it aesthetically because I love Storm Troopers, but more to the heart of it, it’s a really cool mural depicting treacherous world banks, war mongers, the power-hungry, wealthy elite, and their corrosive invasion upon the ‘99%.’ Look at how the characters literally tower over the city skyline. It really gives the sense that breaking into the ‘1%’ is virtually impossible for the everyman and everywoman. And the characters aren’t looking down, taking notice of the population they are meant to represent fairly with respect. Instead, they go about their business way above the ‘disenfranchised’ lives below.
Mural by Crisp. Septima y Calle 134.
17NOV12. Bogota, Colombia. Canon 550D, Canon Lens EF 18-135mm.
Message from Crisp in response to my questions about the above murals: “Yeah, the Obama with Kogi and Amazon Indian is mine, whereas the President Santos and Amazon child on the other side is a friend of mine from the UK. His street name is MIKO, short for “Mi Kolombia”. His side depicts Santos in indigenous clothes while the child is wearing the Colombian presidential sash. He wrote “we are all mixed” between the 2 figures.
My side is actually a statement that, not everyone benefits from the recent free trade agreement signed between the USA and Colombia. We recently repaired this wall as it was defaced pretty quickly due to the directness of the mural. It used to have “TLC:Nadia Gana” written on it, but this and all the faces and money were erased with black paint. Seemed very specific and probably done by government people rather than other grafiteros. So when I repaired it, I toned it down a bit.
The “L” is added by someone else. It’s always risky doing graffiti about politics and heads of state as it’s at high risk of being defaced by people who don’t agree or don’t understand the statement. The MIKO wall has been defaced quite a bit due to depicting Santos. Still, that’s all part of street art, it’s not protected and people can add, alter, adjust, deface, or completely destroy at their own will.” – Crisp
I also notice that APC has written on Santos’ head. Did the REAL APC tag it, or was it done by an impostor? This is all so intriguing…7OCT12. Chapinero, Septima, Bogotá, Colombia.
Again, I drove by on a bus one day and had to go back and take a closer look. It was risky here and a bit dangerous. Two men walked by me and told me I shouldn’t have my camera out in this area. I got pissed off and told them I have every right. They kept walking past me, but I really wanted to ask them why people think they have a right to just take what isn’t theirs. Pissed me off. Anyway, taking a closer look at the mural: it’s a protestation against the “Tratado de Libre Comercio,” – TLC – (Free Trade Agreement) – between India and South America (Colombia). This artist is equating India with Nazis. Negocio Redondo means “Windfall.” Crisis equals TLC equals War.
7OCT12. Carrera 10, Bogota, Colombia.
Native Girl
On Saturday, I had driven by this in a bus and decided that I had to come back Sunday morning and photograph this mural. It’s beautiful and it symbolizes such hope and positivity. I knew I was in a bit of a dangerous area. It’s the kind of spot that you have to find out where the police are, and you have to keep looking around you for people that will creep up on you. I know it’s risky to brandish my camera, but I’m as careful as I can be and part of me gets really defensive if all of Bogotá simply accepts it as a fact that if you are using something that you worked really hard for to get, that someone is going to feel like it’s their right to take it from you. So, like I said, first, I find the police. Secondly, I put a whistle in my mouth, and thirdly, I take a picture and then do a 360 turn to make sure someone hasn’t crept up on me. When I was at this mural, I did catch a homeless man coming up behind me holding up something that resembled an umbrella poised for an attack, but as I saw him, I yelled at him and he turned around and walked away. This mural is on Carrera 10. If you want to check it out, take a friend to make you feel safer. It’s generally safe and there is a police presence.
No More Violence Against Women!
Unfortunately, domestic abuse is still prevalent in Colombian culture. Any time we see art like this, we need to praise it, acknowledge it, and adhere to it.
“Esta lote no esta en venta” means “This item is not for sale.”
This is incredible to see: art expressing freedom of sexual expression, stopping violence against women, encouraging Colombians to speak out against trade agreements that negatively affect them as a people…awesome. This portion of the mural also speaks out against child abuse and proclaims that education is a duty, it’s not a negotiation.
7OCT12. Carrera 10, Bogotá, Colombia.
Brilliant. I thought this was Jimi Hendrix, but research indicates it’s Jose, a Bogota rapper by DjLu. “Always game.” I think the ‘Skull Face’ is by Toxicomano. Bogota, Colombia. AUG12. (Instagram, Lo-fi aspect)
