An article/biography about Batania Neorrabioso.
Have you ever thought of what city objects can or cannot be support of Graffiti & Street Art?
If you join our street art tour in Madrid, you might be surprised, walking around, you might find something a bit odd: Poetry on trash cans.
Say what?
If you find this appealing you might wanna know about Neorrabioso, or also known as Batania Neorrabioso. These are some of the quotes created by him:
- En el cine de tu niñez pusieron un Zara. Vuestro nivel de vida es nuestro nivel de muerte.
- Que repatríen las patrias.
- Liberqué, igualiquién, fraternicuándo
What’s the meaning of Neorrabioso?
Neo is a prefix used in the artistic or cultural fields. Something that has been reinvented such as Neo-baroque or Neo-gothic, so this first three letters gives us a clue about this poet.
Is Poetry something that needs reinvention? Something from the past?
The second part of his name means rabious, angry.
The sentences that Neorrabioso has spread in trash cans around the Spanish capital are a mix between deep thoughts that he’s reflected about or even word games that will entertain you on your way home.
Who is behind the name?
Neorrabioso is also known as Alberto Basterretxea Martínez, native from a small town called Lauros, in the Basque Country.
He studied journalism. His goal was to become a war journalist, and then when he would be fifty-something, he would retire to isolation and write.
But some things changed these plans: he fell in love. Then he started writing poetry, surprisingly.
Another event not so pleasant, also led him to write poetry: His father’s death.
What does Neorrabioso write about?
After this loss he started writing not about love, but about politics, and more specifically, the memory of his father made him write about an ongoing issue that has been present in the spanish society.
The independence “conflict” between Euskadi (Vasque Country) and Spain.
Batania started putting his father’s quotes through writings on the walls of Madrid, proudly following his ideas and becoming an instrument to make these heard.
Funny enough, Alberto doesn’t see himself as a Poet, he does accept though, when called poet by other people, specially the ones that enjoy his message and don’t think of him as vandalism maker.
How is the process to get a quote written?
Neorrabioso has an interesting way of finding his mostly well-liked quotes.
He can write a bunch of verses until he finds one or two that he really likes, and then with those he would start writing a poem.
His messages have a lot of political content against everything he does not support: big multinationals, cult-like nationalism and overall freedom of speech.
That’s is why he decided to communicate through an unlikely censored support: a blog.
What’s his style?
In his blog, he posts thoughts and poems. He will give you a good idea of how his brain works.
He is interested in a number of topics that makes him a woke writer, paying attention to everything.
Neorrabioso wants to reach everybody, that’s why he decided to write on the walls and trash cans. These supports make him to be able to say whatever he feels like saying.
Is he a street artist, a poet or a graffiti writer?
Batania wants people to see a human, a man in his words.
He believes in loving, more than actually writing about love.
As an artist, he is not interested in making a living out it either, even though he lives through his art. Alberto is not interested in charging money for his poetry, but he did release a book thanks to the fans’ pressure.
What does he intend with his art?
In a lot of ways, Neorrabioso has been able to be a unique type of artist.
He’s joined different aspects and we didn’t know we were craving to be witnesses of that:
- Graffiti.
- Freedom of speech.
- Art & city.
His ability to make us stop and stare at someone’s words is unique.
This is why there can’t be that many Madrid inhabitants that haven’t encountered his poetry or don’t know his name.
Our opinion about Neorrabioso.
Just to make it shorter, we love what he does. We wish to have such creativity while writing.
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