Madrid Street Art

Updated: Sep 1, 2022

An overview of the city's art.

There are rules in street art culture?!

The street art scene in Madrid is vastly different than that of Lisbon. The artist we worked with, Tetoux, said some of this comes from the “squareness” of the government, alluding to the lack of support financially and productively for urban arts. Technically it is illegal to paint on walls or door coverings in Madrid, and while the government seems to have a pretty lax attitude about it in Lisbon, this is not the case in Madrid.

Because of its questionably legal status, many people are surpirsed to learn about rules within the street art community. Though not written in stone, people who use throw-ups (quick tags of their names) will generally not paint over characters or business doors that have a painted image on them as a sign of respect. If you see imagery painted directly over one of them it’s usually done by an out-of-towner. Tags can be layered and not seen as disrespectful. Large murals are generally left alone by taggers s well. In fact, several cities in the United States have used murals as a deterrent for graffiti. Philadelphia has successfully stopped most unwanted graffiti in some areas by hiring street artists to complete large-scale murals.

Hunting for Art

We’ve set out onto the streets of Madrid each day, often centering our hunt on the barrios of Lavapies and Chuaca. The pieces we’ve seen seem to center much more on individual expression and being seen or getting a name out than the large commissioned pieces more prominent in Portugal. The throw-ups or tags are elaborate in design and style, with interesting lettering and coloring. There are larger commissioned pieces here and there. After walking the neighborhoods and scouring every nook and cranny, we have gotten pretty good at spotting pieces by artists across the city and recognizing their characters or styles. We’re constantly pointing out another Ruins R64 heart or tile piece by Nean.

One of the most interesting areas to find cool urban art is the metal doors that slide down over a doorway into a shop or store. These are often painted with an image relating to the business, but sometimes are just fun designs or pictures. This could be a way to introduce more urban art into a community with our students. They could design a door design for one of their favorite local businesses.

Click through this slideshow to check out street art made on the night-doors of local businesses