Despite what many people could think, we consider graffiti art as a self-expression movement that can be observed in the streets!
These are some of the different styles that we could observe on the graffiti art. We will analyze them all in the following lines.
- Tags
- Throw-ups
- Characters
- Stickers
- Wild-style
- Fletchers
- Roll-ups
- Stencils
- Paste-ups
Which are the 5 most used graffiti art styles in Madrid?
Please check the article we wrote about graffiti art and if you have any comments/suggestions for us to add in our website, submit your information to info@cooltourspain.com
1-. Tags, the most common type.
Tags are developed with spray paint, markers or chalk. It would take you just a few seconds to do one of them, and graffiti art writers usually add the following details around them:
- Arrows
- Ovals
- Stars
Artists use them to state that they have been in any given place, but the majority of the society think that it’s vandalism.
What do you think?
2-. Throw-ups, also known as “throwies”.
If you are looking for popularity, you will need hundreds of these around the city to became famous! They take longer than a tag, and we will always recommend you not going on your own to perform in the streets.
They could be done by using different colors and to fill these pieces artists usually use fat caps as there will be more color coming up from the spray can.
Most common throw-ups are developed with silver and black colors.
3-. Characters, “kekos” in Spanish language.
You could add them next to your piece, or separatedly, and they will always make you smile.
Cartoon-styled figures are the most common form and Madrid city is home to “La Banda del Rotu” (the markers crew), which has bombed our town continuously with urban graffiti art.
4-. Stickers, the uprising community.
It is in the article “sticker art in Madrid” where we deeply investigate about this movement, but to sum things up there is a huge community existing not only in the Spanish capital, but all around the world also.
For you to know, graffiti art creators usually design them with Photoshop or Illustrator, but it is also common to find them created with markers.
5-. Stencils, created with plastic or paper.
These designs are created in a very fast way as the whole process is usually done at home.
How to create your own stencil?
You just need a picture, a software called Photoshop (or similar), acetates or old x-ray films and a box-cutter.
The steps to follow include the development of several layers with which you can illustrate the photograph with different colors.
In case you are looking for impressing the audience, we would recommend you to add several layers.
Graffiti art vs. street art
Readers should also know that there exist a huge fight between these two movements.
In the first instance, graffiti writers blame the urban art industry to destroy their community. They believe that street art is helping to gentrify our neighborhoods.
They even mention that they risk their time and money, while the others are just there because of the trend.
On the other hand, you may observe how the street art artists in Spain complain about the lack of respect from graffiti writers.
Is there any graffiti art project in town?
Yes, there are and they receive the support from the community. We would like to mention one of them:
They recently celebrated their 20th anniversary with an incredible party in which they organized workshops and the opportunity to paint legal graffiti walls in Madrid’s Parque de la Bombilla.
Their shop is located in Calle de la Luna, not far from Puerta del Sol. Writers distribute Molotow and Belton products.
What’s the most famous graffiti art festival?
Madrid city hosts several street art festivals such as PINTA Malasaña, CALLE Lavapies, Muros Tabacalera or Urvanity but as this article only talks about graffiti art, then we will just showcase an old-school event.
- MOS (Meeting of styles Spain).
It took place in the parking lot of Chamartin railway station for the past couple of editions and it features the most famous graffiti writers in town.
3 store-scaffoldings were used to paint the walls and not only did we observe local artists, but there were also international graffiti art writers.
Our opinion about the graffiti art in town.
It’s such a pity that the new government in Madrid is trying to penalize the graffiti art in town with higher administrative and penal fines.
We believe that there should exist at least one wall in every neighborhood so that people, specially teenagers, have the opportunity to do what they love the most (without risking their time or money.)
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