Pixacaos en galeria brazileña

pixação movement

choque cultural gallery is located in são paulo, brazil,
it specializes in promoting new art forms and has
displayed work by graffiti artists, tattoo artists,
graphic designers and illustrators since 2004.

on september 6th, 2008 choque was showing a
collection of paintings by well-known street artists
gerald laing, speto and titi freak among others,
when a group of 30 individuals stormed into the
gallery brandishing spray cans. the group 'tagged'
the entire gallery, defacing the artwork hanging
on the walls. they soon fled the gallery, leaving
over $5,000 to 10,000 (USD) worth of damage
behind. the individuals were all members of a
graffiti art movement known as 'pixação',
(translates as ‘trace’ or ‘stain’ in english) is a style
of tagging unique to são paulo. the incident left
many wondering why this had happened and
why these people had deliberately destroyed the
work of fellow street artists. the organizer of the
pixação attack stated in a message to other
members, that the intention of the act was to
protest against the ‘marketing, institutionalization
and domestication of street art’.

gallery invite
the flyer sent out inviting pixação members to
the choque gallery protest read as follows:

art attack 2
the path to revolution

we are going to invade with our protest art a shitty
art gallery (culture shock), which, as per its ideology,
gives space to underground artists - well, then it’s
all ours anyway - and we will declare total protest.

meeting point:
praça benedito calixto, rua cardeal arcoverde
@ rua lisboa, next to metro stations clinica
and sumare.

time:
3pm, saturday sept 6th, 2008.

protest slogans:
long live tagging
art as crime
crime as art

all for the pixação movement

from the streets to the gallery
in recent years street art has become a mainstream
art form with entire galleries devoted to it and auction
sales netting millions of dollars. this trend culminated
in the 2008 street art exhibition at london’s tate modern.
the large scale exhibit featured work by six internationally
known artists, each covering a massive portion of the
tate modern’s brick facade.

among the participating artists were two brazilians:
nunca and os gêmeos. nunca entered the são paulo
graffiti scene through pixação and the movement also
influences the work of gêmeos. this said, pixação
generally opposes the popularization of street art and
its inclusion in galleries - believing that street art is
the medium of expression for under represented
youths. they want it to remain in the streets, reaching
a mass audience and owned by no one.

são paulo scene
são paulo, brazil’s largest and richest city suffers
from significant socioeconomic inequalities.
largely a city of immigrants, it has a diverse population
coming from all over the world. many areas have
developed rather poorly while others have prospered.
some of the city’s poor youths turn to street art like
pixação as a form of expression against
disenfranchisement. while some use the outlet as a
form of creative expression and free speech,
others use it for malicious means.

the choque gallery attack is the latest and perhaps
the most high profile incident where pixação have
tried to make their voice heard. the alleged organizer
of the protests is rafael guedes augustaitiz
(a.k.a. rafael pixobomb). in july 2008, he staged a
protest at his own graduation show at the belas artes
art school in são paulo. he invited fellow pixação
members to vandalize the exhibition - in this instance
40-50 pixadores arrived, spraying the school’s
interior and school employees trying to stop them.
as you might expect, augustaitiz was later expelled
from the school.

‘open your eyes and see the inevitable mark of history’,
proclaimed some of the tags left behind. the pixadores
were attempting to call attention to the exclusivity and
economic realities of art institutions.

wether the stance of pixação will challenge street artists
aspirations to exhibit and sell their work via galleries
remains to be seen. however, their protests will surely
add some fuel to the ongoing debate of street art being
shown in galleries.