I love finding new articles on art in Colombia. This one however has another side to the story which is not revealed – and all is not rosy …so read on!
The article provides some good information on international artists such as Pez (Spain/Cataluña) and Crisp (Australia), as well as Colombian artists like Guache, Mico, DJ Lu, Praxis, Lesivo, Katze 3, and Toxicomano – all working there presenting their view of the world they want to see, be that political or pure art. Hosted on Fusion.net it has some great photos of the street art in Bogota.
Street artists or “grafiteros” as they are known in Colombia are now able to be much more open in what they are doing and and many are now even hired to cover temporary building site walls and placards as street artwork is often respected by peers and so is less subject to vandalism.
As the blog says, there is a generally permissive side now to street art in Bogota – but this was born with a price.
In 2011 the Bogota police killed grafitero Diego Felipe Becerra with two shots in the back. This of course caused a public outcry enough to cause the Vice-president of Colombia to take personal oversight of the investigation as the public would not have believed the police version. His friends organized a march for his cause.
This is at least one reason that you will find greater tolerance today by police and officials for the creation of art on the streets of Colombia.
So, now you know – enjoy the article I found and remember the true story behind it!
Here’s the link to the article:
http://fusion.net/story/56993/heres-what-happened-when-bogota-decided-to-let-graffiti-artists-do-their-thing/
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