Who said it isn’t art?

Today, Badalona(a city very close to Barcelona) has organised a fantastic event for graffiti lovers. About 50 artists have taken part in a competition intended to dignify this type of painting which is seriously in danger of extinction in our city. People passing by could vote for the best graffiti painting while it was still in progress. Believe me, it was very difficult to choose the best one, as many of the them were absolutely amazing!!!!!!!!! Just have a look at the pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Barcelona used to be a dream city for graffiti artists around the world. Famous names such as Miss Van, Pez, Skum, Debens, Señor Kern, Sixe Art, Kram or Flan have painted some of the walls of our city. However, Barcelona’s City Council has passed a new by-law which aims at cracking down on graffiti. They say they want to stop taggers who just scribble their signature, but the result is that at the moment it is absolutely forbidden to do any kind of graffiti unless you have explicit permission by the proprietor of the building.

In my opinion, good graffiti makes the city more colourful and it is a fantastic way to express not only personal feelings but also political or social messages. Many cities are famous for their murals: NY, Belfast, Berlin. Why not Barcelona?