São Paulo: An Open-Air Art Gallery

São Paulo is one of the world's urban art capitals. Its main exponents are internationally recognized stars, whose work has been exhibited in the most prestigious galleries in the United States and Europe.

Street art is so important in the city that it even has an open-air Museum of Urban Art and celebrates Graffiti Day every year.

When walking through the streets of São Paulo for the first time, it's impossible not to notice that a huge number of its walls and buildings have been covered with messages, drawings, or simple graffiti, attempting to break down some of the chromatic uniformity that has given it the nickname "Cidade Cinza" or "Gray City."

Some of these creations are so famous that many travelers come to the city just to appreciate them in person and in full color. By its nature, graffiti is an ephemeral art that can be there one day and gone the next, so it's worth arming yourself with a camera or phone to help it endure in photographs.
Vila Madalena

São Paulo's bohemian neighborhood is home to the city's most famous graffiti spot, Beco do Batman. This alley, officially named Rua Gonçalo Alfonso, is so nicknamed because the first mural painted in the 1980s was of the Batman.

The rest of the alley gradually filled with color and is now one of the city's main tourist attractions. The graffiti is updated periodically, so there's always something new to discover on each visit.
Just a few meters from Beco do Batman is another famous and pigmented alley, Beco do Aprendiz. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was a haven for drug dealers but was revitalized thanks to an NGO that invited budding graphic artists to decorate it.

Today, the walls are signed by national and international graffiti artists.
Open Museum of Urban Art

In 2011, Binho Ribeiro was arrested for unauthorized painting of the pillars that support the elevated section of the blue subway line. He then prepared, along with other street artists, a project to adorn them with murals.

The State Secretariat of Culture supported them, and thus the first Open Museum of Urban Art in the country was born. More than 30 columns filled with light, shadows, and shapes of various styles have hosted three exhibitions to date (2011, 2014, and 2017).
Os Gêmeos, Nina Pandolfo, and Kobra

These three names are famous in the São Paulo urban scene, and their work can be found throughout the city. Os Gêmeos is a duo of twin brothers, Otávio and Gustavo Pandolfo, who were born and raised in the Cambuci neighborhood, in the city center, where some of their early pieces still survive. Their signature touch is their distinctive yellow characters.

Also in Cambuci, you can see the work of Nina Pandolfo, one of the few women who has earned a prominent place in the local graffiti scene and who is known for drawing girls with enormous, expressive eyes.

Eduardo Kobra, with his unique, kaleidoscopic style, is the author of monumental murals on Avenida Paulista, Ibirapuera Park, and Consolação, among many other corners of Sampa. Their fame has crossed borders, and their art has reached five continents.
Graffiti Day

Every March 27th, Graffiti Day is celebrated in memory of the death in 1987 of Alex Vallauri, one of the first figures of urban art in São Paulo. It is a festive day in which murals are painted throughout the city, roundtable discussions, and various cultural activities are held to celebrate the event.
Pixaçao

Not all urban art on the streets of São Paulo is colorful graffiti. There is a style, born as a message of protest during the dictatorship, that is distinguished by being clandestine, marginal, and illegible. Its purpose is not aesthetic, but rather its aim is to convey a political message and a message of social inequality.

These graffiti, present throughout the city, especially in hard-to-reach places, are called pixaçao, and their creators are called pichadores.

Street art, as striking as it is ephemeral, is one of the living creatures in the concrete jungle called São Paulo.
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