GRAFFITI IN RIO

Omnipresent in the streets of the great cities, graphite is an art that grew alongside the Art History canonized in museums and cultural centers. The recognition of its importance for understanding contemporary culture, and its influence in the constitution of a new visual and social language, has been gradually gaining ground on debates on public urban art diversity.

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Differently from the monuments that were born with the vocation for celebration memories or the contemporary works that affirm a new place for art in the urban space, graffiti is an elegy to the transitory, to the multicultural network that makes the city. When we unite these works, we want to say that, be it in spray or bronze, the art in the streets is a sign, it points to the past, affirms the present and warns about the future.

Text by Mariana Varzea, translated into English by Gisele Mendonça do Nascimento, from the book Arte Ambiente. For more graffiti see the Picasa album GRAFITES CARIOCAS - GRAFFITI IN RIO.