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Exiting the metro on our first night in Valencia, we navigated through the tiny streets of the Mercat and El Carmen neighborhood. We seemed to be the only ones on the street. It felt a little post-apocalyptic, walking past abandoned lots, half crumbling buildings that didn’t even look to be under construction, and shuttered business with roll-down doors. This will all look different tomorrow I thought. And then we rounded a corner and saw our first (of many) Valencia street art. Street art in Valencia is large scale, interesting, and a bit dark.
There are several high-profile artists from Valencia (here’s a bigger list). Escif and Hyuro were two that I was able to start recognizing from their style. From our first night in Valencia, it became a fun surprise to round a corner in the old town and come across an amazing piece of art or graffiti or whatever you want to call it. I am by no means an expert on street art, but here are some of my favorites while in the city.
Horse and snails on Carrer de Sant Dionis
Cat on Carrer de Salvador Giner
Aerobik Karaoke – bunnies and banana on Carrer de la Corona
Hyuro – wolves and cars on the south side of the Central Market
More Hyuro street art – Gentrification – on Carrer de les Carabasses
Distraerse (distracted) – more Hyuro near El Mercat
Escif in Plaza del Tossal in El Carmen, Valencia
The neighboring wall – Moses with Euro and Dollar tablets and the most terrifying facial hair.
Colorful street art didn’t seem as common as the contrast-heavy thoughtful pieces, which made some of these colorful lighter pieces stand out.
More colorful pieces in El Carmen
The size of this one on the side of a building on Carrer de Sant Miguel
Nothing fancy here, just a fun look at how the rolldown shop doors are used for advertising and graffiti when not rolled up for daytime business.
Kind of a strangely interesting one on Carrer de Guillem de Castro
Fairy tale graffiti in el Carmen
One of three fast food pieces – hip! hop! don’t stop!
“From here to fame” pizza
The Fast Food series by Escif
near Plaza de la Merce
Thanks to Instagram, I was able to learn who some of these pieces were created by. I tagged them #valencia and #streetart and then got a few comments from strangers identifying the pieces as as Escif etc.
