Urban art or the need to leave a mark

Madrid,

If we understand urban art as the result of the individual impulse to leave a mark on mural surfaces, its roots would sink into those of our own existence and it could be approached as one of the first creative disciplines; If we consider it as an urban phenomenon, first clandestine and gradually institutionalized, its origins would be established in the outskirts of New York and in the sixties. But by its very nature it has never ceased to be an elusive matter.

Under the curator of Patrizia Cattaneo, head of the Swiss firm Artrust, the Canal Foundation hosts “Urban art. From the origins to Banksy”, an exhibition that outlines an evolution of this street creation from those American beginnings to today, and from the spontaneity of the signature or tag to the consolidation of much more complex visual codes and the assumption of critical political and social budgets. To a large extent, the infrastructures of large cities have become disputed territories from which to transmit positions and claim presence (and attention).

It would take a few decades – at least until the eighties – for the contemporary art system to integrate a selection of these street expressions: it was then when graffiti entered galleries and museums. The change of scenery, as always happens in these areas, brought about other conversions: the conceptual and aesthetic forcefulness of these manifestations is not the same on the street as in the white cube, but the latter fosters, in return, the recognition and support of the market.

Other transformations in urban art have to do with geographies – when settling in Europe, and in its historical cities, work on walls implies a dialogue with the past; monumental interventions and visual poetry increased – and with the progressive increase in possible techniques and approaches (stencils, stencils, installations…). Of course, also with the internet and social networks, which have allowed a rampant dissemination of these creations beyond the original enclaves for which they were conceived. It is, as the acceptance of this art by galleries entailed at the time, a new process of recontextualization.

The purpose of this Canal Foundation project has been to offer a genealogy of urban art as a communication instrument, from its New York cradle to its popularization, including its most famous figures (Os Gêmeos, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, JR, Invader, Banksy…), but also with others that may be unpublished to us and that have tried to challenge the viewer by referring to identity, consumption, power or the possibilities of citizen participation.

The journey is structured in chronological stages, but we cannot say that it is completely linear, rather it seeks to establish connections and influences that show that this is a more diverse and rich phenomenon than is generally thought.

It is no coincidence that the subway, that great moving canvas, or that neighborhoods like the Bronx, Brooklyn or Queens, impoverished forty years ago, were the first to welcome what were, at first, signs of personal affirmation, of rebellion against invisibility. Nor did the expression of pseudonyms predominate then, the urban alter ego that, when repeated, gave some unappreciated people a form of existence. TAKI 183, of Greek origin, was one of the first to become aware of what the suburban media had to offer.

When he got the attention of New York Timesmany young people followed in his wake and writers They almost competed to take over the walls of New York, the signatures became a status symbol and the call came style war among those who preferred angular letters (block letters), the bubble-shaped ones (throw ups), those with silver or chrome paint (chromes) or the fluid and organic ones (softies).

Among those who preferred the underground, we cannot fail to mention SEEN, the godfather of graffitiwho deployed theirs over the cars from end to end in examples of lettering bold. It was the reaction of the authorities against this activity that they understood as vandalism that led some authors to transfer their research to canvas or to curate exhibitions (Crash), to enter graphic design (Poem One) or to incorporate satire and caricature into their art (Quik).

Urban art. From the origins to Banksy. Canal Foundation, 2026

Once the cleaning of walls and carriages had taken away the street character of graffiti, one of the first galleries to commercialize it would be Fashion Moda, a museum-laboratory that, as much as possible, maintained the energy of the street and exhibited Basquiat and Haring. But the best of New York urban art would be shown, already in 1981, at PS1., in the exhibition “New York/New Wave”, in which Seen or Crash rubbed shoulders with Warhol.

Already inserted in the market and in theaters, Haring and Basquiat consolidated personal languages that necessarily distanced themselves from the underground. In the exhibition we will see Supercomba piece that condenses the latter’s positions on race and consumption; and the moving bodies and symbols reiterated by Haring, both an artist and an activist against apartheid and AIDS. His creations had nothing to do with the writing initial, rebellious and illegal.

As street art became a global movement, Paris gained weight in this field, with the colorist Zenoy and the abstract artist JonOne as great figures, along with Gérard Zlotykamien, who always reflected on conflicts and violence. With him the letter lost its semantic function to become pictorial expressionism; what was a clandestine practice had come to light (and to the city of light). In Berlin, its not yet demolished wall was the support par excellence for these creations and Madrid is also represented in the exhibition, by SUSO33 and its firms with a performative and conceptual dimension. Representing Barcelona and Valencia, El Xupet Negre and PichiAvo will come our way, but there is no shortage of references to Portugal (VHILS) and Italy (with the monumental interventions of BLU and those associated with pop and classical art by Ozmo).

The entry into the 21st century meant a creative explosion for graffiti in two directions: that of post-graffiti, which reformulated classic graffiti with low-cost techniques that encouraged a large circulation of images; and that of the works themselves that interact with the urban space. In this last field, VHILS has worked on stolen walls, NeSpoon reproducing traditional lace, Chinagirl Tile with ceramics and clay, and Gregos resorting to molds and three-dimensionality.

In the chapter on optical games, Truly Design turned to anamorphosis and No Curves to adhesive tape. And there were those who never stopped paying attention to painting, like Andrea Ravo Mattoni, who based his work on masterpieces, and Tanc, an admirer of Pollock.

Converted into a global language with the impetus of the Internet, urban art is no longer rooted where it is produced, but is constantly shared and provided with new contexts. Not only is he not marginalized, but, as in the case of the portrait of Obama by OBEY with the legend Hopecan become an electoral poster; be the subject of artistic filming (JR by Agnès Varda); or constitute an entire contemporary fresco (Os Gêmeos).

To the first five sections, which we can say narrate those decades of history, is added a case study: that of Banksy, who due to his anonymity in times of selfies, the critical background of his pieces and his high price has become a symbol of many paradoxes in the field of recent art. He has managed to turn each of his creations into an event without showing his face. We can ask ourselves to what extent his is a radical act of expression and resistance.

Finally, the epilogue of the exhibition invites us to reflect on what the limits are between urban art versus mere vandalism (between individual freedom and respect for the shared environment), what importance contexts and supports acquire when determining the value of a work or what the institutionalization of street creation entails. How relevant is the what and how much is the where.