2. And So it Begins.....(Part II)

(This used to be the second post in our blog, but the knuckleheads at Google relocated it to after post #10, which made no sense. We suspended it for a while to see if the problem could be fixed, but apparently not. We thought the artwork was too good to be missed, so we're letting 'er rip. But please bear in mind that this was supposed to come after our very first post).

Let's pick up where we left off, looking at some of our favourite street artists and their work in Valencia. Only this time, let's stir in a little controversy. Vinz is a renowned Valencia artist who likes to paint naked human bodies topped by bird heads. 

Venus Striptease
Vinz (2013)
ORIGINAL VERSION

In his imaginary world, birds symbolize freedom - fighting for equality against anyone who stands in their way. But thanks to some Puritan who decided to take responsibility for the whole community's moral standards, the portrait now looks like this:

Venus Striptease

Vinz (2013)

CENSORED VERSION

As do many other of Vinz's artworks in Valencia. With it's generally liberal ways, you sometimes forget that Spain is a Catholic country. Other times you wish you could forget that it is a Catholic country.

Karas Urbanas is a professional stenciler who teaches at the Faculty of Architecture at the University National Autonoma de Mexico. He's enlivened Valencia's street scene by drawing on his cultural myths and symbols:

Karas Urbanas (2014)

Lolo Fonico was born in Seville, lives in Valencia and has been painting city streets for nearly 30 years. He seems to enjoy adding these unusual creatures to the Valencia landscape, both in his own work and in joint projects with other artists:

Lolo Fonico (2013)

This portrait by Gore was painted as part of a much larger mural by friends Doks and Suni of the Ojayo Players. They hail from Almansa, a small town south of Valencia:

Gore (2012)

La Nena Wapa Wapa - and we're going to go out on a limb here and guess it's not her real name - has distilled street art to its simplest elements. Her works often consist of two colours (black + another colour) and her images are largely of a woman from an earlier era, birds and a birdcage.

La Nena Wapa Wapa (2012)


Many internationally renowned street artists have chosen Valencia's buildings as their very large canvases. BLU, who is from Italy and studied in Valencia, rewarded the city with two massive works with unique twists. Moses' beard is yellow and made up of snakes:

Moses
BLU (2011)

And Buddha's mouth has been hyperextended to the point where it can span a gap in a building:




BLU (2011)

There is/are no signatures on one of Valencia's most beloved images, and there has been much speculation about its creator(s). Most of the smart money is on a collaboration between Julieta and Escif:

My Sweet End

Julieta and Escif (?)



It's not unusual that, despite the hours of effort put into creating their work, many superb street artists do not sign their name or even a pseudonym. That reason is quite simple: painting street art is still illegal - even in a city like Valencia, where the people and the police are quite supportive of it. Unfortunately, it means we have no idea who painted these works:

If you happen to know, please drop us a line at two.nomads319@gmail.com