Sao Paulo is under constant development and refurbishment. As in many large cities, the sounds of building work are a near-constant accompaniment to daily life – power tools, delivery trucks, steel and concrete fabrication, the shouts and whistles, and the hand-tools, of workmen (haven’t seen a woman builder yet) are woven into the soundtrack. In Sao Paulo, ‘verticalisation’ is the main activity.
The older buildings are gradually demolished to make way for towers of apartments, with perhaps a commercial element included. This process is not always straightforward – the redevelopment of Avenida Faria Lima in the 1960s, for example, met with some resistance. See http://theproverbial.org/2012/08/16/regeneracao-gentrificacao/ .
On the corner of Azevedo and Fradique, one block of buildings has been gradually shut down for demolition and re-development. A series of graffiti-style posters has appeared, drawing attention to the site.
The female figure was the first to appear, on the traffic control unit, much as they have done in nearby streets, at first painted onto the unit direct.
Eventually all four sides of the Azevedo and Fradique unit were covered, security banding adding a randomly appropriate element to the image.
Images on paper had begun to appear elsewhere in the neighbourhood.
As buildings fell vacant, the images spread, much as their real-life subject might do as they are disturbed by demolition. The instinctive revulsion most people feel towards cockroaches was deployed very effectively in this piece of guerrilla art.
Zezé of the gymnastics academy had been above the shopfront on Azevedo – latterly an automotive workshop – for 35 years, and bid her students and neighbours a sad farewell.
This development is symptomatic of a deep-seated issue in Brazil – the ownership of property. Business owners often do not own their premises. The goodwill they build up over years can be destroyed with little notice to make way for a more profitable development.
A year ago the artist put the finishing touches to the mural on the local pool hall, also established about 30 years ago (the leaping / floating man against a blue background an homage to French surrealist Yves Klein – see http://tudosobretech.wordpress.com/2012/11/11/exposicao-a-fotografia-manipulada-antes-do-photoshop/ ). Whatever benefit the new building delivers, I doubt it will be as characterful as this establishment. Are the graffiti artists the only ones to mourn its passing?
UPDATE Demolition is well under way. A hole in the fabric of the city, soon to be filled by another vertical. For a moment, the unadorned sides of cast concrete buildings are exposed.
UPDATE 02
Here’s the hole in the ground from which the new tower will be built.
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Reblogged this on msamba.
Thank you!
Charlotte, thanks for this and for the follow. You might like some other posts on street art here, including
http://theproverbial.org/2012/07/28/rio-sampa-graffiti/
Tchau tchau!
I have always been a big fan of street art and monster murals, on highway sound breakers. Favourites are the power boxes, that the council held a competition for, if you painted it with a unique design or theme. Sure beats seeing them dull and grey.