Valencia’s historic barrios are awash in street art in all its many styles and forms. It’s not the giant, whole side of buildings done by an array of international artists sort of street art. The art you find in the narrow streets of El Carmen, Russafa and the Ciutat Vella is more gritty and homegrown. The scale is also more modest, sticker and poster art are pretty popular, as well as smaller murals that often have a political message attached.
Some of it is just out and out surreal. Much of it is comedic. I enjoyed stumbling across the small stencil work of Batman on a washing line with drying underwear, as well as the picture of an opera singer in a paella pan, arms outstretched in the home of paella.
What Valencia’s street art lacks in scale, it makes up in creativity. There are tours you can take to explore the art scene, but it’s literally everywhere and any normal walk around the Old Town will bring you face-to-face with plenty of walls covered in spray paint and poster art. There are many businesses that have commissioned pieces for the shutters on their shops. An honourable tradition in Spanish cities.
Other than the shutter art, very little of the artwork dotted around the city seems very ‘official’, it takes a more traditional approach where street art is illicit, bordering on illegal, but tolerated by the authorities. It feels more organic and amateur than the art you come across in others cities, where it is actively used to promote tourism and urban regeneration.
One result is that the art appears more varied, there doesn’t seem to be much of an aesthetic standard, more an ‘anything goes’ approach. It would be fair to say some is more successful than others, at least for me. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as the saying goes.
There are some international artists on the walls of Valencia, I saw a couple from famous Italian artist, Blu, that looked as if they had been done a long time ago. It’s more often local artists like David de Limón, Dahi and Escif that are most easily spotted.
The local artist I saw most of was Valencia’s Julieta XLF, whose beautiful and colourful creations, populated by whimsical people and creatures, come with a strong Japanese aesthetic that stands out in the ancient streets.
Valencia is a fantastic city for many reasons – history, great food, good weather, fabulous beaches on the Mediterranean – its street art scene is just an added bonus. It may not have the same reputation for street art as some places, but it’s definitely a glass half full street art city.
Great street art.
Wonderful artwork.
So, another Batman alias is Captain Underpants ?
He chose to wear his wardrobe that way!