With artists gathering from all over the world as well as a strong street art community in Bogota, we felt as though our trip to Colombia’s capital would not be complete without learning a little more about what drives this creative movement in the city.
Bogota is a street art lover’s dream, with hidden messages, love, culture, history, political views & much more, a lot can be told in the colorful, beautiful & detailed street art of Bogota.
Representing Bogota through street art words
Bogota Graffiti Tours
No.1 in street art tours in the city, we chose to take our street art tour with www.bogotagraffititour.com Having such close connections & knowledge of the artists our guide J, Colombian born & New York raised really meant that the information he gave us was first hand & street art being a real passion of his really shined through.
La Candelaria
The colonial heart of the city, La Candelaria is a “rough around the edges” neighborhood comprising of cobbled streets, colonial buildings & some beautiful pieces of street art. It is where most of the city’s street art is concentrated & where most of the Bogota Graffiti Tour takes place.
Street art in the Candelaria area is truly appreciated for what it is, a real art form. Building owners even commission artists to paint their buildings, in their chosen theme as this adds value to the building, international artists being the most sought after.
Realist art by renowned artist – Gauche
Crews
Many artists work together in Bogota to form crews, APC (Animal Pirate Crew/Culture) is supposedly the biggest crew & live up to their name in all of their works.
Piece by the APC (Animal Pirate Crew/Culture)
The While You Sleep Crew are also popular & do just as they suggest, carry out their work during the darker hours. The In Crew are a crew that work to brighten the cities Barrios, the areas on the outskirts of the city that can be seen up on the mountainside painted in a rainbow of colour. These are some of the many crews that work together to continue the city’s street art movement.
Artists
There are many artists on the street art scene in Bogota, Colombian & international. Stinkfish is considered no.1 has even been commissioned for works in the country of Cambodia. Saul is also a very well respected artist that has been going for some 15 years now.
Gauche, who is one of our favorite artists represents the struggles of the indigenous peoples & has created some very moving pieces.
A strong & moving piece representing the indigenous peoples of Colombia by Gauche
Callejon del Embudo
Bogota’s oldest & narrowest stone made street is where the tour leads through & where some beautiful works of art are located.
At the very bottom of the street is a particularly beautiful piece by an artists named George, it is a jungle scene that depicts the Moyska culture & is added to by George regularly.
The Moyska jungle scene by George.
Looking up on this street you will spot some of the 15 statues located in the area, that are made of a very hard wearing paper mache & represent various things.
A paper mache statue representing the circus of Bogota
Stopping The Movement
As the city is trying to restore a lot of the old buildings & bring it back to its colonial status a lot of the buildings are increasingly being wiped of their street art. That being said a city by law does support street art & efforts are still being made to keep the street art scene alive in Bogota. It will be interesting to see in future years what happens with street art in Bogota but we know one thing for sure, we definitely would love it to stay.
Painted with anti-graffiti paint this piece shows that street art in Bogota is here to stay
Guest writer: Kelly of Destination Addict. In January of 2017 we said goodbye to our family & friends & packed up our lives back in the UK to fulfill our dream of long-term travel! By sharing our journey & adventures with you we hope to bring you some serious exploration inspiration. For us travelling is more of a lifestyle, not a temporary state & we want to share that lifestyle with you.
Thank you Kelly for sharing this beautiful street art. Check out these great tips on Bogota from Destination Addict!
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Very cool post guys! We love it how Kelly and Adam have had the opportunity to share their travels via Street Art Chat. Ever since getting involved with Street Art Chat, we really have been looking at some of the places we have been to and pictures we have in a different light. Absolutely love it! Peace, Tim & Marcella
I love hearing that people are noticing more street art and sharing it with us:) I’m very happy to have a site to share street art from around the world!