Estico
This photo was indeed taken in Berlin, although the Spanish text “Pifiar con estico” might suggest otherwise. According to online translation tools, pifiar con estico means something like “messing up with aesthetics.” That’s not the case here—it’s a beautiful picture featuring a little girl carrying a plant in a bucket. Maybe she’s taking it to […]
David de Limon
This little figure can be found all over Valencia, and I even know the artist behind it—his name is David de Limón. He started creating this character in 1998, a completely black figure with a balaclava, but where its heart is, there’s a small red heart. Starting in the El Carmen district, where this figure […]
Viva
The couple from the early 60s is about to do something fun, maybe dance or something else enjoyable. They definitely seem excited. On the right, the little martian with the gas mask is giving a fascist salute. Is there fascism in Mexico? There’s plenty of drug cartels, but apparently, fascism too. This could possibly be […]
Emptiness
In Japanese philosophy, emptiness is not the absence of something; it’s the presence of emptiness. Emptiness is something—it’s the absence of something and the presence of nothing. That’s also how you can view this photo. There are things on it—text, two figures, and an anarchist symbol—but there’s also a lot of space filled with nothing, […]
Art
The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Vermeer, Liberty Leading the People by Delacroix, and The Birth of Venus by Botticelli—three absolute masterpieces by top artists, all represented in this photo. From Botticelli, we see the blowing figures and the shell, visible on the poster to the right.
Paella
The poster you see here is about the celebration of modern art. A Feria is typically a fair, a market, or a kind of festival, where there’s plenty of food, drink, and partying, as is common throughout Spain. But this Feria is also about art. Next to the poster is a QR code that apparently […]
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 […]
Go Veggie
A girl is watering a plant—a sweet scene, until you take a closer look. She’s holding a watering can, but there’s a label stuck on it, warning us that the can or the water inside is radioactive. The plant itself isn’t quite what it seems either; it has teeth. A carnivorous plant, or perhaps a […]
Glance
For years, I’ve walked past this beautiful eye on my way to the Museum of Modern Art in Valencia. The entire image is slowly crumbling, but the eye has remained intact so far. Valencia can get scorching hot, but thankfully it rains rarely. The eye isn’t looking at me, as I pass by, but somewhere […]
Alice
On a wall in a suburb of Valencia, Alice is slowly fading away, along with the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter. All characters from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. The Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat are far from sweet and funny—they look sly, almost mean; cunning is a better word. Alice looks […]