So here’s the second installment of following the trail street artists have marked in Malaga….
Postcard from Malaga, Spain: Street Art, Part II
Category: Street Art
Postcard from Malaga, Spain: Street Art, Part I
Pulpo and wine. Not an uncommon combination for us while in Malaga, but fortunately we had an apartment for recovery. And octopi never invaded dreams, as far as I know.
The historic center of Malaga is pretty pristine, with polished marble pavers on pedestrian streets gleaming as though in a palace.
A few steps outside, and artists displaying varying degree of talents begin to commandeer attention in several neighborhoods. Some work is obviously invitational or approved; others unauthorized. Some artists cannot resist reminders that this is the birthplace of Picasso.
This post represents one of a series of shots snapped during wanderings. For visitors, street art always seems a way to gain a deeper understanding of people inhabiting a city.
More to come later.
Postcard from Malaga, Spain: Unauthorized exhibit of Banksy’s protest art
Rats: They exist without permission. They live in quiet desperation amongst the filth. And yet they are capable of bringing entire civilizations to their knees. If you are dirty, insignificant and unloved, then rats are the ultimate role model. They have no respect for society, and they have sex 50 times a day.
Banksy
The mysterious hooded lord of all street art. The man billed as bucking against anyone charging a buck, well in this case a euro, to view his art.
We saw an exhibition in Bologna a few years ago with Banksy in its title that had very little to do with the artist – a 13-Euro price tag.
But this “unauthorized” exhibition at La Termica in Malaga – “Banksy: The Art of Protest” – seemed so much less commercial. A pure tribute.
Showing Banksy is somewhat risky. In Brussels in 2018, an entire exhibition was seized by the court. Pressed for comment, Banksy released a statement about the exhibition that Urenna Ukiwe quoted in an article in The Guardian:
Hmm. Not sure I’m the best person to complain about people putting up pictures without getting permission.
And the repurposed setting has such an un-aristocratic history. Before its recasting as a contemporary art center, La Termica’s institutional rooms functioned as an orphanage and then a sanitorium.
“Welcome to Hell” from an unauthorized exhibit of Banksy’s protest art in Malaga, Spain
In 2015, Banksy launched a month-long pop-up on the Bristol seaside entitled “Dismaland,” “a family theme park unsuitable for small children.” It might be gone, but don’t dismay.
The flaw in this late-delivered “postcard” is that the Malaga exhibit closed this week. The good news is a cd coincidentally was released at the same time in Austin, Texas.
Bottlecap Mountain‘s “Dismayland” lives on as a perfect soundtrack….
Buy it.
Postcards from Barton Springs 