Uruguay has a Dry Steam, a Flat Hill and a prison called Freedom. Maybe, for this reason, Uruguay has transformed the subversive art of graffiti into a controlled form of art.
Graffiti is an eclectic movement that it has its roots in the street, the anonymity and the underground. However, graffiti has risen to the category of contemporary art although the purists of the street phenomenon aren't agree with that consideration. Nowadays, it's known as Street Art. It has been radically transformed and is a socio-cultural phenomenon that reinterprets the public space and converts cities into authentic open-air museums.
In Uruguay, an important case of this transformation is the work of José Gallino. The graffiti artist is the author of more than 500 murals. Around thirty of that murals pay tribute to famous people in the country. In the city of Montevideo, Gallino decided to bring color and positive energy instead of political propaganda. Gallino stands out with a kinder speech and a refined and worked technique.
Another interesting case is the most durable mural in the world, according to the residents. In any case, it is a mural that was born almost 30 years ago when the Democracy of Uruguay was recovered. We can read on the wall: "Encourage fellows, that life can be more". This sentence is attributed to Victoria Diez who was a murderer teacher during the Spanisg Civil War. However, the original sentence pronounced was not exactly that. Actually, it was the Colombian singer-songwriter Elia Fleta, who included it in one of her songs. In any case, Cristina Badán fed up with the political slogans on the wall. Then, she bought a bucket of paint and shared a positive message with the city.
On the occasion of the International Museum Day, several waste containers were intervened in Montevideo. In this way, one of the most unpleasant elements of urban furniture became the support for an artistic and institutionalized action. The objective of the action is to generate a sense of appropriation on the part of the neighborhood, which extends the useful life of the container and away from the vandals. Again, street art shows its conciliatory side against to the original graffiti codes.
There are numerous examples and anecdotes that corroborate this appropriation of the streets from the regulated sphere of art. In March 2013, Caro Curbelo, Santiago Alonso and Sebastián Borrazás, launched a project declared of tourist interest by the Ministry of Tourism of Uruguay. StreetArtUy is an interactive map where you can locate graffiti, murals, street stickers and other urban art interventions in Montevideo and some other cities in Uruguay.
Everything is captured, photographed, cataloged and filed so the characteristics of graffiti have been also changed. Maybe that was his destiny, disappearing under other type of murals. Art in the streets is related to preservation and that breaks the short-life dimension of graffiti. But, on the other hand, it means the democratization of art, coexistence with cultural expressions and exposure to a dialogue with the city.
