Raw in Blue
What a beautiful abstract piece this is, spray-painted on a wall. I saw this image in El Cabanyal, a disadvantaged neighborhood that will soon turn into a yuppie area, given how fast it’s ‘improving.’ To get a good photo, I had to make my way past a few addicts who were using right by the […]
Victory
The relentless Spanish sun beats down on the peeling posters, creating a beautiful three-dimensional effect. The angular appearance of the man resembles Socialist Realist art produced in the old Soviet Union, but if you look closely, you’ll see the word Hombre, so the poster is clearly Spanish. There was a time in Spain when communism […]
Indian
I found it an intriguing image when I came across it in Ruzafa, one of the trendiest neighborhoods in Valencia. The boy is dressed in a late 19th-century outfit with a large Native American headdress. It evokes the time when Karl May, a German writer who had never been to America, made “cowboys and Indians” […]
Cartoon
What an incredibly clever idea to tear out pages from Donald Duck and paste them up. A cheap way to wallpaper, and you can look at it for a long time. Cartoonish images have been pasted over it by others. In the top left, the white section—I photographed it deliberately. It creates a nice contrast […]
Berlin
A piece of Berlin in Valencia, “Ernst Kurzhals & Co, Berlin.” A search on Google didn’t reveal much, except that there’s also a similar poster somewhere on a wall in London. Of course, there’s a phone number you can call. I didn’t. I think leaving something invisible, in the dark, and untraceable adds to the […]
Burn
A burned house I walked past on my way to a boxing gym. It’s uninhabited and stands on a corner, decaying in an otherwise trendy neighborhood. To me, it’s a kind of Abstract Expressionism, a Rothko or a Pollock, but created by fire, firefighting, and time. Isn’t that just as intense as how those great […]
Rise
This photo was taken in Cabanjal, a neighborhood in Valencia that used to be considered one of the poorer areas. Now, Cabanjal is slowly being taken over by wealthier people, drawn by the old Cuban-style houses, the cheap real estate prices, and the beach just a stone’s throw away. The original residents are being gradually […]
Entrada Prohibida
It seems like a cheerful scene, colorful, with a man and a woman in the bottom left corner enjoying a drink. But the building is collapsing, and the beautiful doors are broken and serve no purpose, except as a canvas for the spray paint used on them. The real work of keeping people out is […]
Bicicleta
In Valencia, you have to pay attention to the small details, or you’ll walk right past them. This lady can be found near the Cathedral of the city, but she’s very small. She has a face from a different era than her bicycle. It could well be that the head has been placed on a […]
Jazz
The man’s face looks as though it’s been carved, like we used to do in primary school. Carving in linoleum, rolling ink over it, and then printing. It seems to be the face of a Black man, and near the place where this face is found, there’s also a jazz club. Hence the name: Jazz. […]