2009-02-18 : SpY EXHIBITION IN MADRID, SPAIN

If we have to talk about our city: Madrid. And the artists you can find in its streets, we can say that Madrid is living a really great moment. One of the best examples is the case of SpY. One of the weirdest artists in contemporary street scene. Since years Belio Magazine has been following his work. And now with our website, we don’t want to miss the chance to discover and spread his work. Even more because this week there will be the opening of his solo show at Studio Banana. So, if you are in town do not miss it!



From the 19th of February running through the 22nd March, at Studio Banana: C/ Plátano 14 Madrid. Spain.
Opening 19th at 20:00 h. (www.studiobanana.org/dnde-estamos)
More information about the artist at: www.SpY.org.es









“Subtlety is not something that the current street art scene has us used to. On some occasions it comes off as intrusive as outdoor publicity, that inescapable machine whose existence is usually wielded as an argument to justify the presence of independent art in the street. But this isn’t the case with SpY. The participation of this man from Madrid doesn’t jump out at you. Rather, it waits until you run into it. It isn’t a monologue but a dialogue, between the artist and the environment, between the passer-by and the piece”.

“SpY began to act in the street while he was still an adolescent in Madrid during the mid-eighties. By the beginning of the early nineties he had established himself as the leading figure of the still young state graffiti scene, offering works with an impeccable style and a solidity that even today are still not very common. Although this chapter closed a while back, SpY has not forgotten his roots. He is conscious that graffiti is a priceless, vital and artistic school and above all, an intensive and prolonged training in the exercise of observation and creative development of the urban environment”.

“Around the mid-nineties SpY felt that he was outgrowing traditional graffiti as a means of expression. He soon began to play with the infinite possibilities that the surroundings offered his senses, recently freed from this narrow methodology. A maturation process began that has beared his best fruit throughout the current decade”.

“His work involves taking over urban elements through transformation or replica, commentary on urban reality and the interference in their communicative codes. The bulk of his production comes from observing the city and an appreciation of its components, not as inert elements but as a palette of materials overflowing with possibilities. The will of the game, the careful attention to the context of each piece and a constructive, not invasive, attitude characterize, without a doubt, his performance”.

“Like the best examples of public art, the participation of SpY forms a whole with its context. It is in the fusion of these two elements, as well as in the chance encounter between the spectator and work, where the core of his proposal is found. For this reason, this man from Madrid does not produce work for exhibition in galleries and limits himself to exposing graphic documentation, which takes the form of very cared-for, large-sized photographs”.

“SpY’s pieces want to be a parenthesis in the automated inertia of the urbanite. They are pinches of intention that are hidden in a corner for those who want to let themselves be surprised. Filled with equal parts of irony and positive humor, they appear to make the passer-by smile, incite reflexion, and to favor an enlightened conscience”.

Javier Abarca (www.urbanario.es)