Travelleres might sometimes be overloaded with classic activities or things to do in Madrid. However, Cooltourspain’s street art guide will show you the city in an alternative way.
New tourism trends are available to people who are interested in discovering the local culture and listen to the messages that the graffiti walls in town hide.
Consequently, we would like to show you (whether on a graffiti tour in Madrid, or on your own) the best urban art in Spain’s capital city.
What are the places worth to visit with our street art guide?
The following information has been compiled thanks to the opinion of local artists who love to hunt the best murals, paste-ups and stickers.
Thus, if you would like to contribute to improving our street art guide, we would appreciate you to tag us on Instragram.
1-. Lavapiés, the multicultural district.
Madrid’s most multicultural district offers its visitors the opportunity to discover the local culture in an off the beaten perspective, away from the tourist traps.
Our street art guide would recommend you not to miss the following places, although you should know that they don’t have a certain opening/closing time.
- La Tabacalera de Lavapiés, a former tobacco factory from the XIX century full of graffiti walls and street art decorations. (Calle de Embajadores, 53).
- Esta es una Plaza, probably Madrid’s most beatiful urban garden, created by the local community.
2-. Malasaña, a street art guide for hipsters.
You shouldn’t miss visiting this hispter neighborhood next Sunday, 9th June 2019. Cooltourspain’s street art guide curators believe that this is Madrid’s most important event of its kind. Why?
The urban art decorates metal shutters, windows and walls of private businesses in the district, but you should hurry up to see the work of Pinta Malasaña 2019!
Did you know that graffiti artists fight against gentrication and paint over the decorations at the same night? You can see this color-war on the following days or during the rest of the year.
3-. Vallecas, working class neighborhood.
The street art is everywhere in Vallecas and despite the big area that this neighborhood occupies, here we are to give you exact directions of the buildings where you should go:
- Puerto de Alazores, 5. A carriage of the death driven by a farmer.
- Manuel Velez, 19. Have you ever seen a ‘leek’ that talks?
- Pico Mampodre, 4. Two “engineers” painted by Nano4814.
Festivals to be featured in the street art guide.
In the paragraphs above we mentioned which are the districts that you shouldn’t miss, but the following festivals featured in our street art guide, are not necessarily located in those areas. Let’s check…
CALLE Lavapiés, color for the “streets”
The following map will show you the exact location of all the decorations that were developed for CALLE 2018.
Businesses of all kinds repeat year after year, mainly because they see that there is a marketing advantage if they paint the walls of their store/bar/restaurant.
Both our street art guide & graffiti tour in Madrid will tell you more information about the artists.
Meeting of styles, graffiti in our street art guide
The parking lot of Chamartin railway station serves as the meeting point for hundreds of old-school graffiti writers from all around Spain and Europe.
MOS festival showcases the work of the most talented and hyperrealist artists that we have probably seen in Madrid city, and we are that lucky to be close-friends with some of them.
Stay tuned for more information about this year’s edition…
Arte al cubo, art to the power of three
Not only street art has a touristic perspective, but also a social and cultural perspective. Let us tell you about a group called Madrid street art project.
They are in charge of bringing color to the hallways of a place where homeless people sleep during winter time. We believe that everybody should have access to art, no matter your finantial situation.
Some of the artists who participated in last year’s edition:
- Sabek & JM Yes. Both artists living in Madrid city.
- Antonyo Marest. ‘Tropicalidad’ straight from the Mediterranean cost.
- Son3k Son3k Son3k emergent artist from Asturias.
Arte al cubo is celebrated next to Renoir cinemas (Calle de Martín de los Heros, 12). Nearest metro is Plaza España.
Who are the emergent local artists in our street art guide?
We believe that internationally known artists don’t need the same support as local artists from the emergent art scene do require.
The following list of local artists have the same, or probably more quality, than well known artists (withouth mentioning anyone in particular). Check them out!
Ze Carrión, pure controversy
Born and raised in Carabanchel district, Ze Carrión currently shares his time as a full-time high school art teacher, and his graffiti decorations.
He is not the most politically correct artist, but it’s that controversy why we chose him for our street art guide. We love his work and the stories that lie behind his work. Just as an example:
- The kiss between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
- Franco’s beheaded figure.
- A sewer with the Catalonian and the Spanish flags.
Zet graff, mixing tattoo and graffiti on our street art guide
Javi, a tattoo artist working in between Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga and New York, is a master on anatomy skills.
His studio is located right off Calle Jesús y María with Travesía Comadre, and his bodies and crazy characters are painted and spread all around Lavapiés district.
He collaborates with local businesses, which allow him to paint legally on their walls, as long as they are not restrictive on the theme/topic.