Americas

[Visited: January 2024]

From our hotel in the vast city of São Paulo, we walk through quiet streets towards Vila Madalena. Some streets are very steep, we see trendy shops and restaurants, and then reach the area we came for: Beco do Batman. In the 1980s, someone sprayed an image of Batman on a wall here, and gradually, it has become a pilgrimage site for graffiti artists. We see some painted street art here and there, but it is when we turn into one of the alleys that we reach the hard core centre of Beco do Batman. The name of the DC comics vigilante has stuck as the name of the neighbourhood after having been the first work of art. We quickly see that there is a wide array of styles on the densely sprayed walls of the three alleys that make up for the Beco do Batman area.
Walking into the alley, our senses are bombarded by the often brightly coloured works of art. Moreover, many cover the entire wall from the ground to the top. It is overwhelming, but in a pleasant way. Many of the works of art are all one next to the other. We see paintings of exotic women with colourful dresses. We see pictures of a woman listening to an old gramophone. We see brightly coloured birds painted much larger than life on one of the walls. We see paintings of people that might be famous locally, but also one depicting Salvador Dalí. There is a Mona Lisa trilogy where the famous lady is depicted in bright colours, and in one case with a batwoman cap on her head. We see paintings that are partly black-and-white, and partly coloured. We see paintings that completely surround a window in an otherwiser blind wall.
And yes, we also discover Batman himself. And Batwoman. And Superman, and Superwoman. There are very realistic graffiti, and surrealistic ones. On one of them, we see the pink houses of a city at night, with the Earth hanging from a chain, and several ice cream cones covered with chocolate as balloons. We see an almost Picasso-like wall painting of a nude woman. We see animals that live in the Amazon area of the country, and the lush vegetation which they call their habitat. There are psychedelic graffiti, that are an assault on the senses, and take a longer time to properly appreciate, as they are often complex. We see a few statements as well, but surprisingly few. Taking our eyes away from the walls, we also notice colourful people in the streets, making or selling art. We end up spending much more time than we had anticipated in this exciting area of Vila Madalena, before we finally head to one of those fancy restaurants for a healthy lunch. We will be back, and one thing is certain: there will be different works of art to admire. This is an ever-changing graffiti exhibition area where an artist can cover someone else's work as long as that artist agrees with it.

Around the World in 80 Clicks

Personal travel impressions both in words and images from Beco do Batman (Brazil). Clicking on the pictures enlarges them and enables you to send the picture as a free e-card or download it for personal use, for instance, on your weblog. Or click on the map above to visit more places close to Beco do Batman.
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Beco do Batman > Brazil > Americas

[Visited: January 2024]

Around the World in 80 Clicks

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