Excusado Printsystem: Street Art in Colombia - PingMag - The Tokyo-based magaz... - The Diigo Meta page

• 13 Mar 08
  

  Darren Chase

  art design Graphics graffiti colombia street stencils streetart inspiration

• 04 Mar 08
  

  Yule Heibel

  Feast your eyes...! Ping Mag does it again: the street art featured here is Manet for today, is Courbet for contemporaries, is Beckmann for boys (and girls), is Frans Hals and Velasquez for very heavy kids of all persuasions, is just fantastic.

  bogota colombia excusado_printsystem grafitti interview ping_mag street_art

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      Yule Heibel on 2008-03-04

      Is it a car (an American car?), or is it a barracuda ready to eat you alive?
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    • To have fun. To do what we wanted, when we wanted, where we wanted. It may seem hard to believe, but we strongly believe in work as fun and fun as work. We have never been comfortable with the idea of having a boss, a set schedule, this sort of working lifestyle.
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        Yule Heibel on 2008-03-04

        - incredible image: pattern (surface) and outline -- but an outline that gives real depth ...in turn patterned/ surfaced

    • What makes the Santa Fe quarter ideal for that?

      
      
      

      Santa Fe is an old, marginal neighbourhood in downtown Bogota, plagued with problems such as prostitution, stealing, drug dealing and child abuse.
      Throughout 2007 we worked to reclaim this space: a place where we could offer an element of diversity to the neighbourhood and share another reality with its inhabitants for a few days.

    • How did you get all these street artists together?

      
      
      

      That’s what makes Desfase interesting: the gathering of people with different intentions, images, techniques and lastly languages all using the streets as a common space.
      Our challenge is to offer interesting and sufficient spaces for them, to inspire work and dialogue. Both the friendliness that the streets generate and the interest that many urban artists have in meeting and visiting other places helps us achieve this. Additionally, we rely on the institutional and private support from those that have believed in our project.

    • How tough are the controls on graffiti in Colombia in general?

      
      
      

      Over here, street art is not such a big phenomenon. Even though the city has lots of free spaces for graffiti and advertising, there is no rigorous control on this art form and its diverse manifestations.
      In this way, the street art scene is very peaceful.

    • That’s great to hear! But still, do the police take sprayers in?

      
      
      

      This rarely happens. We have created a peaceful street art environment: in abandoned spaces, we can paint freely – even during the day. As a result, most graffiti and street artists do it this way.

      
      
      

      However, if they take you in, many things can happen. Sometimes you can talk to them, explain what you’re doing and nothing bad happens – they let you go and finish what you were doing. At other times, they may detain you for a few hours and take note of your ID. And, in the worst-case scenario, they’ll take you to a Permanent Justice Unit (UPJ) for twenty-four hours.

Public Stiky Notes

• 
  Yule Heibel on 2008-03-04
  Is it a car (an American car?), or is it a barracuda ready to eat you alive?
• 
  Yule Heibel on 2008-03-04
  - incredible image: pattern (surface) and outline -- but an outline that gives real depth ...in turn patterned/ surfaced

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