There's such a vast gulf of difference between the random kid who spray paints a cariacture of his fattest teacher with visible stink waves oscillating off of her on the side of his elementary school and the amazing graffiti murals of some of the best street artists that it's sometimes hard to remember that they're all filthy vandals.
But talent? Imagery? Bright vivid colors? Heck, that redeems crime. I imagine being a Barcelona shopkeeper who one day discovers that a random street artist has tagged the side of his building with an amazing punk manifesto mural. I can't even imagine how utterly vacuum of soul I'd have to be to be anything less than thrilled. Unless, of course, such punk manifesto mural happened to depict me with visible smell waves oscillating off of my bloated and exaggerated corpulence.
I suspect that the vast majority of Barcelona Street Art on the linked gallery is actually commissioned, which removes some of the romanticism of anarchist street artists dressed entirely in black skirting through the shadows at midnight in search of the perfect mortar canvas to tag before morning, or better yet, rappelling down bridges to spray their otherwise unreachable sides.
Barcelona Street Art [Official Site]
