Street Art in São Paulo Part 11 - ALEX SENNA

Check out the amazing street art by Alex Senna, an artist and illustrator from São Paulo. His pieces are very distinctive and can be found all over the city. His work has become an integral part of this citys`character and urban image of São Paulo. 

Alex`s work has already been featured during exhibitions and in galleries from Miami, Toronto and New York to Paris, London and Berlin. Follow Alex on Instagram (@alexsenna) and check out his website www.alexsenna.com.br.

VIDEO: São Paulo or finding beauty where you least expect it

PARQUE DO GATO by PEDRO BAYEUX via CROP THE BLOCK.

The guys at Crop the Block bring together local film makers, who explore cities around the world through creative video. This wonderful Short is about a place called Parque do Gato. 

Film maker Pedro Bayeux, describing the project:

"Parque do Gato was a slum years ago - now is a housing development and a public art gallery, in the neighborhood of Bom Retiro. During the last World Cup, I was looking for places to take photos and illustrate the context of São Paulo: every time that I went near to the "Parque do Gato", my curiosity was higher - and the desire to make a short film there, also. This place is not really easy to find. Can be dangerous, can be harshly realistic, but now, with the buildings all painted, is definitely a paradoxical touristic point."  

There are many more really cool short films at Crop the Bloc and the work of Pedro and Projeto Revivarte is absolutely worth following.

Pedro Bayeux: http://pedrobayeux.com/

Crop The Block: http://www.croptheblock.com/en/sao-paulo/concept/#/intro/

Parque do Gato: https://www.facebook.com/projetorevivarte

VIDEO: Street Art in São Paulo Part 10 - CADUMEN

Street art in this city is truly incredible and never ceases to amaze me. One of São Paulos great street artists is Cadu Mendonca aka Cadumen. His work is inspired by nature, Brazilian folk art and urban street art. Cadu has already painted, amongst others, the walls of the MIS in São Paulo (museum for audiovisual art) and smaller spaces in Ibirapuera Park, turning them into beautiful pieces of art.

Ever wondered how a mural is made? Check out this "making of" edition:

Check out some more of his incredible work below:

Follow Cadumen here:

https://www.facebook.com/cadumen
http://www.cadumendonca.com/
www.instagram.com/cadumen_arte

Street art of lamp post men carrying bins as backpacks

Lamp post men carrying bins as backpacks. It sounds weird but that is the latest street intervention to hit Vila Madalena, São Paulo.

The project was started up by Mentalgassi, a Berlin-based art collective, and Muntano a Brazilian street artist. It has bins being reimagined as rucksacks and a pasted on photo of the carrier going on the lamp post.

It is supposed to be a tribute to the catadores of São Paulo, unofficial wastecollectors who scour the streets for recyclable rubbish in order to earn a few cents per kilo through the recycling centres. The message is indirect but it is supposed to "increase the visibility" of catadores, as well as call "attention to purchases and donation bins for recyclable materials"

Here are a few photos of the new bins. It will most likely be a very ephemeral intervention so enjoy the while you can:

VIDEO: Wheatpasting in São Paulo

Wheatpaste.Doc is a 2012 Brazilian documentary about "wheatpasting", wheatpaste being a glue made of flour and water commonly used by informal advertisers and street artists alike to quickly attach large pieces of paper or posters to walls.



The documentary, “Cola de Farinha” follows various artists around São Paulo during a 20 minute introduction to the wheatpaste scene of São Paulo. Well worth a watch!

Street Art in São Paulo Part 9 - TEC

Street artist TEC, an argentine who recently made the move from Buenos Aires to São Paulo has been busy decorating the local roads. Various supersize street paintings have appeared throughout the city, below are a selection of photos:

More São Paulo street art here

Street Art in São Paulo Part 8 - Felipe Yung

Felipe Yung is an artist / muralist from Vila Mariana in São Paulo and one of the best known names on the street art scene. Even though he is Brazilian his creations often feel more asian than latin american but always abstract enough to create intrigue. Using a lot of brushwork and presumably a lot of time he recently create a new mural in downtown on Rua Augusta.

Check out the pictures below of his latest brightly coloured piece:

Street Art in São Paulo Part 7 - Nunca

Nunca, is one of the standout artists of the graffiti and street-art scene in São Paulo

He's been painting the city's streets since the 1990s and uses a sketching style reminiscent of old school etchings. Due to this style and his use of bright colours his works are amongst the cities most easily recognised. As he tends to produce very large high impact murals, it's difficult for his work to go unnoticed.

Below are some examples:

Man in a suit holds an indigenous scalp

Indigineous person watch TV amongst the rubble

He focuses on the confrontation of modern Brazil with its native past often displaying indigenous people in various scenes of interaction or conflict with contemporary culture. In his own words:

"My work centers around the changing, mixing and invasion of one kind of culture by another, and especially the interaction of old and tribal ways of living and the modern way of life"

See more posts on São Paulo street art here

VIDEO: King Cap, new graffiti shop and gallery in SP

Here's the teaser video to the new graffiti shop and gallery King Cap, opening imminently in the pseudo-hipster neighbourhood of Vila Madalena:

KINGCAP #SP Teaser Expo SLIKS from SINLOGO on Vimeo.

The place opens with an exhibition from prolific São Paulo street artist SLIKS. Here are a couple of examples of his work for those of you unfamiliar with him:

VIDEO: Julian Moura-Busquet's The Biggest City in Brazil

  

Whilst clearly being a personal vision of São Paulo reflecting his own unique experiences,  Julian Moura-Busquet's video, The Biggest City in Brazil, manages to capture some of the day day Sampa moments that anyone who lives or has lived in São Paulo will connect to. They are hard to describe textually and perhaps best left to images or video. As Julian, says, "São Paulo is an incredibly diverse concrete jungle. It is a very interesting place but I think one has to live here to understand it"

Most people would agree with that caveat and perhaps we can go further and say that even if you live here it is quite acceptable, given its immensity and diversity not to completely understand it. Therein lies the essence and fun of living in São Paulo.

His video below is categorised thematically but this doesn't stop it portraying the chaotic and diverse feel of the city. It is also interesting to see the categories he has chosen, (the city's relationship with football, how the streets double up as urban canvas, the heaving transport, etc) from a potentially endless choice:

The Biggest City in Brazil. What Comes to Mind? from Julian Moura-Busquets on Vimeo.

Street Art in São Paulo Part 6 - Pinheiros

Somewhat overshadaowed by the grafitti heavy Vila Madalena, Pinheiros still has some nice street art if you look carefully. A few weeks ago I saw this one headinga long Faria lima towards Alto de Pinheiros area:

Clothes left behind on Avenida Faria Lima

And slightly further on, this friendly elephant was walking down the street:

A runaway elephant cooling down a passerby

More São Paulo street art here

Street Art in São Paulo Part 5

Here are a couple more of my favourite bits of street art, both located in the western part of central São Paulo:

Part of the 260m mural at Avenida Paulo VI (Metro Sumaré)

A frog looks out from Rua Inácio Pereira Rocha

More street art in São Paulo here


Street Art in São Paulo Part 4 - space invaders are here
Street Art in São Paulo Part 3 - vila madalena
Street Art in São Paulo Part 2 - painted lamp posts
Street Art in São Paulo Part 1

Street Art in São Paulo Part 4 – space invaders are here

A space invader looks out on a São Paulo wall

Invader is probably the most famous tile graffiti artist in the world. He's been "invading" cities with his invader tiles for quite a while now and has become a cult figure quite often putting the mosaics in hard to see, hard to reach and hard to remove places.

But despite having "invaded" tens of cities worldwide he had never invaded a South American city... until now! And where better than São Paulo to start the invasion! Here are a couple of ones I started spotting earlier this month on some of the streets I frequently walk on:

At first I didn't know whether this was the invader or a copycat invader but then a friend emailed me to reccommend and exhibition and I realised it was part of the De Dentro e de Fora exhibition in the MASP musem in São Paulo, so it is the invader and the invasion has officially begun - look out!

See also: 

Street Art in São Paulo Part 1

Street Art in São Paulo Part 2

Street Art in São Paulo Part 3

São Paulo Knit Café advertises via knitted lamp posts

Readers of Discovering São Paulo will remember the post about painted lamp posts (link) scattered around the city. I still don’t know whether this is spontaneous creativity by a handful of individuals or whether there is a reason behind it but a few days ago I found the next level of painted lamp posts. These are knitted lamp posts. Yes, knitted. The street name for this is Yarn Bombing” (bombardeio de novelos in portuguese) or grandma grafitti (grafite da vovó in portuguese).

 

Here’s a couple of pictures of the lamp posts on Mourato Coleho 678 in Vila Madalena. 

Close up of a knitted lamp post

This tree is knitted too

In this case this is street marketing for the new Knit Café Novelaria. And before you ask what a Knit café is here are some pictures.

Knit with friends on the sofas

Choose your wool and knit away

The idea is you come in, buy some wool, order a coffee and sit down to knit with other members of the local knitting community. I don’t think I’m personally taking up knitting anytime soon but it’s a novel concept :)