The Guardian, Fodor’s Travel or The Telegraph are some of the internationally known journals and websites that have previously shared information and pictures of the best modern urban art in Spain. However, what are the most important Spanish cities related to this post-graffiti trend?
According to the Spanish National Institute for Statistics, almost 84 million people visited our country last 2019. The street art in Madrid and Barcelona appear on the top of the list along with the Canary and the Balearic Islands, but there are other non touristic villages & places that showcase the best street art performances.
It’s at sponsored events where young emergent talents from all the Autonomous Communities decorate walls and facades with the permission from different city councils. Today’s article will dig deeper on those professional artists that you should follow in Spain before 2021. You could do it on Telegram too.
2 Modern urban art creators who develop their artworks in abandoned locations
First of all, it should be mentioned that modern urban art will always be linked to abandoned spots. From its beginnings, graffiti has been observed as vandalism. Consequently, the places where writers develop their artworks are usually hidden from pedestrians in order to paint for hours, even days…
For instance, underground tunnels that cross highways, warehouses which are no longer in use and even ghost towns are the artists’ favourite spots. They can practice and improve their painting skills: roll ups, spray paint, or reverse graffiti are common examples of their elaborations.
These are two of the most skilful artists that you’ll be able to find on Instagram:
Sr. Val (Unlogic Crew/ Madrid)
Alberto Valerdiz, also known as Sr. Val, is an artist based in Madrid city, influenced by the Spanish graffiti and hip hop movements. What we like the most about him is they way he combines huge bodies who pretend to be part of a graffiti illustration.
Gumi does not only paint for the love of art, but also for customized canvas and commissioned projects. He is part of Unlogic crew, one of the longest standing graffiti groups in the Spanish capital, and has participated in important events such as MOS (Meeting of Styles).
Similarly to what happens with many other artists in Spain, Sr. Val is fondly committed with social causes, a theme that we could often point at his artworks. In the same vein, he was born and raised in Vicalvaro, a working class district in Madrid’s outskirts.
Decorating Quintanar de la Orden (Toledo) with modern urban art: Oxyz 86
Franz Campoy, also known in the national graffiti circuit as Oxyz 86, is an artist from Andalucía based in Toledo province. Apart from teaching arts at high school level, he does also offer professional artistic services via Creearteshop.
What you’ll be able to observe in his social media channels is that he loves paying tribute to famous & relevant people through street art, either on a canvas or a big wall mural. The featured image shows how Oxyz86 painted over an abandoned Renault vehicle, using the bonnet as surface. Have you stopped for a minute to check the details he used to paint such facial expression?
Is muralism related to modern urban art?
Yes, of course it is! For instance, young and experienced artists develop professional graffiti services in both indoor and outdoor walls. That’s the reason why we say that modern urban art is directly related to muralism. It is one of the categories featured in street art and the open audience could see these incredible artworks while walking on the street.
If you are interested in attending a mural art festival in our country, we would recommend you not to miss any of the following:
- Art Aero Rap @ La Bañeza (León)
- 12 + 1 @ L’Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona)
- Desordes creativas @ Ordes (A Coruña)
- Asalto @ Zaragoza (Aragón)
Modern urban art from Huelva created by Jacobo Palos Wey
This plastic artist from La Palma del Condado is one of the season’s greatest discoveries. He competes against other muralists at Liga Nacional del Graffiti, the first competition of its kind in Spain.
We would define Jacobo Palos‘ technique as hyperrealism, using spray paint on shades to create faces of famous public figures:
- Rafa Nadal, one of the most important Spanish sportsmen
- Salvador Dalí, contemporary artist from Figueres (Spain)
- Michael Jordan, NBA’s legend player
Badi Coloreando (Granada)
Antonio López Caro, aka Badi Coloreando, is the name behind this artist from Granada. Even though his mural artworks might be observed all around Granada city, street art lovers will also find his creativity around Málaga and Cadiz provinces.
They way Mr. López paints is unique. First he uses wet paint to cover the surfaces in the wall, then he spray paints to define shapes and figures. Apart from working as a professional muralist, he also draws tattoos on people’s bodies.
The featured picture shows a little girl dressed up as a native Indian American, followed by the quote “sueño y camino sin miedo” (no fear to dream and walk). Haven’t you checked his Instagram account yet?
Toni Espinar, Alzira (Valencia)
Talking about Jose Antonio Espinar is synonym of experience. His artistic career as muralist is combined with years of work as fine art restorer and sacred art lover. Recently, we have seen as graffiti and street art took his attention.
Have you seen the lines that decorate this Harry Potter colorful graffiti artwork? A modern urban art version of a family movie, which criticises the system and how the government leads our country. Do you feel it is sick? We agree with him too!
Nauni Graffiti
Raúl Moreno López was born in Cornellà de Terri (Gerona), although he currently lives in El Ejido (Almería), where he is considered as a self-taught modern urban art artist in the spray paint technique.
One of his latest artworks in Vícar received the media attention, making his name popular not only in Almería area, but also in the rest of the country. Apart from that, he plays at the National Graffiti league.
What’s our opinion about the modern urban art?
After a deep industries’ analysis, Cooltourspain team members have observed that a huge number of classic graffiti writers are moving into the modern urban art community because of the enormous professional opportunities that it offers.
Painting is not just a hobby for many artists, but a way of living and making money. We understand that and deeply believe that there is an existing trend within the street art culture.
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