Barcelona: Local Art

One of the greatest aspects of Barcelona is the profound interest in art that the city has.  This ranges from famous architects and architecture, to famous painters and paintings, to local photographers and local spray paint/graffiti artists.  I don't want to focus on the obvious Gaudi and Piccaso in this blog, but rather the more local art that gives Barcelona the character it has today.  Wherever I walk in this city, I am constantly surrounded by local art.  This includes people on the street making random things with random materials and local scenery paintings, but most noticeably in my neighborhood, Poblenou,  there is graffiti everywhere.  Whether it is a random wall in an alley or a metal protective pull down door to a store, there is a unique graffiti painting.  In fact, about a week after moving into my apartment in Poblenou, there was an intersection a block away from my apartment that was blocked off for a local concert and graffiti showcase.  Local rappers were on stage rapping while local graffiti artists had their own canvases lined up along the sides and front of the stage doing their own designs and displaying/selling them.  The intersection was inundated with locals!  This was one of the cooler experiences that I have had in Barcelona because it showed me another perspective of the culture that I did not realize existed.  I have now developed a more keen sense of appreciation for local artists and graffiti artists because they are not trying to get recognition on a scale that Piccaso and Gaudi recieved, but rather a more "raw" and intimate appreciation by their fellow local neighbors.