La vida empieza en donde la realidad termina- Street Art I

Oaxaca is rather well known for its street art, even if the city's government does not sanction it and takes at least some steps at times to remove it/paint over it. Some (okay, probably most) of it is political and/or social commentary, all of it is certainly a expression of culture, some of it seems to be commissioned by whoever owns the wall, some of it stays around for a long time, some is considerably more ephemeral. A lot of it is full-on murals and a bunch is smaller-scale. Some of it is stenciled, some painted, some is screen-printed & wheat pasted. More often than not, it is signed by the artist(s). Just about everywhere and anywhere you go in the city of Oaxaca, there is something to see, and I just love it. In addition to all the different colors of the houses, it adds a further dimension of interest and liveliness to the streets: these are streets that people walk, where people live their lives, this is a community, not a faceless series of walls.

I'm quite sure I'll have other posts featuring street art. But here are some from the walk we took from our house to the barrio (neighborhood) of Xochimilco (about 15 minutes) on our way to a new brunch place. These are all, with a couple of exceptions, very large murals.

This first set of fotos is from our very street, Callejón Hidalgo, Centro (one has to say "Centro" because there are other Callejón Hidalgos in other barrios or colonias of Oaxaca, and in addition there is a CALLE Hidalgo in the Centro as well -- one must have any number of streets, alleys, avenues, boulevards, etc. named for Manuel Hidalgo y Costilla, who was a hero of the Revolution, after all!).

At the top of the Callejón Hidalgo (we live at the bottom, the "street" or "alley" or "stairs and street-ish" is all of 2 blocks). This one is unusual I think for being painted in black and white (the screenprints/wheatpaste is almost always black and white but the painted murals are most often very colorful) with just the merest hint of color accents.

There's a whole bunch of murals on the wall of house after house, near the Mercado Sanchez Pascuas

I don't know if the artists are known as Spray Kings...perhaps?

This creature is just outside our door, across the placita our house is on

as is this one, which it seems based on the signature has been there since 2015

 

the artist's signature for "que NO HAYA TRATA"

The next fotos are from the barrio of Xochimilco, a small neighborhood just north of the Centro. Xochimilco is quite trendy these days and is also known for its murals and large-scale street art. Dunno if those two things are cause and effect but...yeah, it's cool.

As we were walking along a street, I first say this gorgeous chameleon on a side street...

and then the rest of the mural- with a salivating carniverous plant? Artist seems to "Street Talents"

Here's the whole mural at once

The caption on the mural "La vida empieza en donde la realidad termina...Dios Nunca Muere" is a reference to the anthem of "hymn" of the state of Oaxaca called Dios Nunca Muere. (translation: Life begins where reality ends...God Never Dies).  Which is...as good a description of Oaxaca as I've seen, really.

Here's a wall with perhaps two different artists' works? I'm not an expert enough, but seems two artist's signatures

Gorgeous rendering of a chapulín.

This is part of a mural on the outside of a childcare in Xochimilco