Street Art Adding Colour to Rio
Regular readers will know that I have a soft-spot for street art. I know it’s not to everyone’s liking and some people even have quite strong objections to what they see as ugly vandalism, but I like it. Having said that, I definitely have more trouble with the pixação so common in São Paulo – while street art (in my eyes at least) makes places less ugly and more interesting, pixação seems to do the opposite.
Today I wanted to illustrate the positive effects of street art in Rio. Praça Quinze de Novembro is a large open square in Rio’s Centro (downtown) neighbourhood. Running straight through the middle of Praça Quinze is the Elevado da Perimetral, an overpass or flyover. Take a look at the scene back in February 2012, taken from Google Maps Street View:
Dark and imposing – the Elevado Perimetral running through the middle of Praça Quinze. Photo from Google Maps Street View
The view from the other side is not much of an improvement. Photo from Google Maps Street View
This ugly monster was built in the 1950s with the aim of reducing the intense traffic coming into Centro. It runs through several neighbourhoods and has been the subject of debate for around 20 years, with various people wanting to have it demolished and replaced. When you travel the streets below this raised road you can really feel how strongly it imposes itself on the neighbourhoods it passes through. As part of the regeneration project on the docks area (known as Porto Maravilha) demolition work is now under way.
This year the excellent blocos Boitatá and Boi Tolo brought the Eat Rio carnival crew to Praça Quinze and we got to see the Perimetral up close. However, those dark walls had been transformed:
Carnival Blocos love to stop under bridges and other covered spaces to benefit from the improved acoustics. The white text above says Adicione Cor (Add Colour), and this seems like a great illustration of the benefits of doing just that. The space was transformed.
I don’t know if this was the work of one or more individuals or perhaps several groups collaborated. The designs and patterns were all quite different, but they all added colour and vibrancy to a previously dull and depressing overpass.
I thought this one was pretty cool – a harlequin perhaps?
I saved my favourite for last. I haven’t discovered the artist, but I’ve seen other work very similar to this around Rio. I think all this colour and design really improves the area and makes it much more cheerful (though I’m not sure if the bloke sitting down on the right would agree – he looks rather grumpy!).
Can anyone really prefer the grim ‘before’ version to the vibrant ‘after’?
I agree. Tagging is awful but grafitti isn’t bad.
I agree with you. We can see the improvement that the street art brings to a place. It’s also very common in Europe. I think it’s a beautiful art but I also think that the prefeitura do rio de janeiro or rio de janeiro’s city hall should provide or improve the ilumination in these places. Thanks.
This kind of street art seems to be getting more and more common throughout Brazil. When I was in Rio I didn’t see allll that much of it (I was mainly in Botafogo and Copacabana) but I’m glad to know it’s becoming more common there…
Here in Sao Paulo, it’s a very common sight (as well as Pixacao). In fact, there are neighborhoods here that are completely filled with this street art…it pops up everywhere! Definitely an improvement. Go to Vila Madalena and Pinheiros in Sao Paulo and you’ll see almost every surface covered in beautiful street art. It’s really cool.
Interestingly, I’ve never seen this style of graffiti in The US….
Speaking of art my fifth Grittjoke was released a few days ago.
http://www.grittypoet.blogspot.com.br/2013/02/grittjokes-fifth-one.html
De nada.
Affe! hahaha :-P
Almost seems a shame they’re knocking this thing down now doesn’t it? (I said almost…).
@Gritty, I’ve been bamboozled by the latest Grittjoke once again. Lim-pa-dor?
Olá, Tom,
Congratulations!
Descobri seu site por acaso e gostei muito! Obrigada por compartilhar com seus conterrâneos a culinária e a cultura do nosso país, que é tão rica! O grafite toma de conta das cidades, alguns são bonitos, outros nem tanto, mas é melhor que as terríveis pixações, não é? Abraços e mais uma vez, parabéns!
Oi Bel! Muito obrigado por suas palavras simpaticas :)
E agora eu descobri seu site também! Parece bem legal e acho que vai me ajudar aprender muito mais sobre a culinária do Brasil. Vou lê-lo frequentemente. Abraço!
Thanks, Tom!
Muito obrigada,apareça por lá, sim, fico feliz se puder ser útil. Abçs!
street art in rio by Tomaz Viana
http://www.bossame.com.br/grafite-zona-portuaria/
Very cool Anna! Tomaz Viana (AKA Toz) is one of my favourite street artists and that piece was absolutely epic! We’re very lucky to have him – his work is all over Rio and it always brightens my day :)