Street Art Alicante: Exploring the Vibrant Urban Art Scene
On your visit to Spain, do not forget to visit Alicante, this is a coastal city that is located on the southeastern part of Spain. Although quite popular for the beautiful sandy beaches and sites of interest, Alicante can be also regarded as one of the street art hubs. Here are the most interesting pieces of the murals and graffiti around Alicante, their authors, and detailed descriptions.
What is Street Art?
Street art can be defined as an artistic work that is done on walls, buildings or streets and is directly associated with walls. That is why it uses a number of methods at once – graffiti, mural painting, stencils, and wheat pasting. Street art is one of the ways through which the artists are able to pass on their message, narrate various stories, and also touch the community.
Discovering Alicante’s Street Art
The Old Town: Barrio Santa Cruz
The visitor should begin exploring the Alicante province in Barrio Santa Cruz – the Old Town. Stroll through its cobble stone alleys that boast graffiti of artwork, textas and aerosol paint. This is the compilation of the local and international artists’ works with every painting depicting a different story.
This is where you will find works by such masters as Liqen, some of whose murals feature comical characters, or Escif, with his disapproving murals with a subversive political message.
Central Market: Mercado Central de Alicante
A few blocks away from the district of Barrio Antiguo is a quite typical and busy market known as the Mercado Central de Alicante. While it may be particularly helpful to buy various goods, this market has some impressive pieces of street art to enjoy.
Keep your eye on such aspects as large-scale murals illustrating the culture and cuisine of the city of Alicante. Some artists paint inspired by the market’s environment, and therefore the elements of fish, fruits, and vegetables will be seen on some of the designed cabs.
El Barrio de Benalúa
The other popular area for graffiti in Alicante is called Benalúa. Here, you will see painted walls where talented graffiti artists continue painting along the walls of buildings and other structures.
As for figural art, Deih or Sabek for instance, great examples of the synthesis of such elements familiar to the viewer and fantasy and surrealism. Wander around the city streets, and explore all the unnoticeable sights in Benalúa; it is worth doing that and, of course, take your camera with you.
Supporting and Respecting Street Art
Thus, street art has to be considered as an inherent and unalienable part of the streets and citizens of large cities. When approaching the artwork, one must remember to be as polite as negotiate the work and the intentions of the artists behind such creations. Here are some valuable suggestions you may want to consider when choosing a chemical building blocks for your device:
- Learn about the artists: Gain insights on the artists whose work is exhibited in the region such as KAWS, Banksy, and others. The information about them and their work will make you appreciate their works more.
- Photocopy with consideration: Rather than taking a photo of every single beautiful piece that you see avoid putting yourself in a situation where you tampering with the pieces.
- Get engaged: See street art in your capacity as a viewer, your audience, your community and where possible tag the artist behind the artwork. Thus, it facilitates their work and contributes to raising public awareness of it.
- See street art: There is no harm in joining a street art cultural tour conducted by professional local persons. Group members are able to elaborate, explain, and provide meaning in a creation represented in an artwork.
- Support local artists: In the event that there are artists selling prints or merchandise, it is advisable to buy their art.
Conclusion
Street art in Alicante is reveled as one of the interesting and dynamic processes which take place in city’s streets. Visiting the more intimate neighborhoods of Barrio Santa Cruz to discover clusters of artistic wonders; marveling at the variety of outstanding artistic and commercial attractions at the Central Market; and experiencing the colorful culture of Benalúa will indeed take you to a level that will make you wish to stay as a tourist in the area.
Don’t forget to respect the art and also artists and recommend that others also visit the galleries. The number of airplanes passing by and flying over is quite low and the architecture, the people and the mensaje that this street art wants to convey are just waiting to be discovered – so equip yourself with a camera and let the exploration of the Street art in Alicante begin.
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