Coming up during the third weekend of July will be the second installment of MIAU (The Unfinished Museum of Urban Art) in the tiny town of about 325 people named Fanzara, Spain. Begun by local artists and with a tiny budget from the local council, more than 20 Spanish and a handful of Italian street artists took part in the grassroots festival the first time around last summer, transforming homes and buildings in this aging municipality. In advance of the new paintings we bring you images of the current murals as shot by Lluis Olive Bulbena, who offers his personal account of visiting the town and getting a tour from MIAU co-founder Javier López and artist Ana Pez.
By Lluis Olive Bulbena
When I first learned of Fanzara’s Street Art I had no idea where the town was so I had to search on the Internet to locate it. The town is located about 186 miles from my own town of Barcelona in the Province of Castellón, Fanzara is about 55 miles from Valencia on the Iberian Peninsula.
Their local web page told me they had about 30 murals so my wife and I contacted the town’s office of tourism and made arrangements to meet someone there when we arrived.
Pol Barban (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Sure enough, Javi and Ana were there waiting for us and they gave us an extensive tour of the town. It was a very hot day, bathed with sun light and I had enormous problems shooting pictures because of the light. But our hosts couldn’t have been more gracious.
After our tour a drink was in order and we got a table at a bar called “Abajo” (meaning “below”). 50 meters up the street there used to be a bar called “Arriba” (above) but the owners changed the name.
Hombre Lopez .Rafa Gascó. Detail. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Fanzara’s love for Street Art began when a group of youths began thinking of new ways to revitalize the town and Street Art was mentioned as a possibility.
They posed themselves a couple of questions to the town: Would local people want Street Art on their home’s walls? The answers came back; the majority said yes. Some said no. Many of the naysayers have now changed their minds to the yes column.
The second question: Who would they invite and under what criteria? This problem was swiftly solved as Javi was friends with a graphic designer located in Madrid named Pincho Lopez. Because of his familiarity with the mural art scene Pincho was put in charge of curating the artists who would be invited to paint.
The first group of artists included: Escif, Julieta Xlf, Deih, Laguna, Cere, Ruina, Chylo, Sabek, Xabier Xtrm, Pincho, Susie Hammer, Lolo, La Foix, Hombrelopez, Joan Tarragó, Yes, Pol Marban, Ana Pez, Rafa Gascó, Natzo, y Acció Poètica La Plana Castelló.
Once in town the artists worked tirelessly to complete the murals, big and small in just three days in September of 2014. Since the small budget did not allow for much more than paint and ladders, the town folks banded together to provide accommodations and food to the artists. In mid-January of 2015 three Italian Street Artists, Collettivo FX, Nemo’s, and Bibito, were invited to paint three additional murals.
Hombre Lopez .Rafa Gascó (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena) “For me the piece that impressed me the most was the installation by Hombre Lopez and Rafa Gascó. Their piece consisted of photographs/portraits of the locals transferred on to stones and installed on a wall. The photographs are of people who lived there and are long gone as well as of current inhabitants of the town. This installation creates a relation between space and time among the town’s inhabitants and their relatives through several decades” -Lluis Olive Bulbena.
Collettivo FX (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Nemo’S (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Xabier XTRM (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Ana Pez (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Sabek (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Julieta XLF (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Julieta XLF and Pincho (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Escif (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Chylo (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Costi (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Lolo (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Lolo (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Deih (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Chylo (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Cere (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Cere (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
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