Rounding up the Barcelona online tour, part 3 leads you from the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya to Plaça d’Espanya then down the Avinguda del Paral·lel, finally to the covered walls of the Jardins de Walter Benjamin – home to some really amazing lettering work, and completely different to parts 1 and 2 of this feature.

Having wandered round the Olympic Stadium (some nostalgia for anyone who remembers the 92 games) I headed towards the MNAC with its breath-taking positioning and surroundings.

On the way, I came across this sentence scribbled on an overpass wall, in stark contrast to its positioning among the grand buildings of the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya .

It translates as ‘the democracy reeks of plutocracy’. However there’s a play on words in a way as democracia is misspelt as demonocracia, hinting at the devilish state of the countries democratic principles. Not your usual knob-on-a-wall style scribble, that’s for sure.

This one really stuck with me, in a region whose constitutional future hangs in the balance, statements such as these are fascinating. Who was it written by? And why did they write it here, especially?

Around the Plaça d’Espanya and onto Avinguda del Paral·lel, I caught a piece from Kram posted on a doorway. This illustrated poster is really popular throughout Barcelona with Ozzy another artists excelling in this medium. Kram is definitely one to keep an eye on. Some of his larger scale work is stunning too. I’ve included it here, as although I didn’t see it in person, it’s too good not to share…

At the Jardins de les Tres Xemeneies, there was plenty of work on display too. Dodging in amongst the skateboarders I caught some snaps of these works. If you’re visiting Barcelona and would like to take in some art, I’d thoroughly recommend stopping by.

Some guys chilling on the benches that afternoon appeared slightly menacing, yet moved so I could get a decent shot! Good lads…

Further up, this strange concrete structure played host to a fantastic collaborative piece between El Pez, Cranio and Koar. It was closed off for some sort of work but I managed to poke my camera through to get a reasonable flick, although it doesn’t do it justice.

Would be excited to see more of this from Cranio and El Pez, two different yet complementary styles in El Pez’s more fish that are spawned from a more traditional graffiti stile and the illustrative indigenous characters of Cranio that work very well together.

When catching the bus up to Montjuic – I spotted what appear to be legal walls (or maybe just very popular) down at the Jardins de Walter Benjamin. The majority of the work I’d seen so far in Barcelona was more “contemporary” street art – a pretty lazy definition – basically not letter work.

However, this part of the city was heavily tagged and there was some amazing lettering on display. Check out some of these examples.

As you’d expect from a city like Barcelona, it’s an absolute treasure trove of art. Although I spent almost 5 days wandering around the various districts and neighbourhoods, there’s so much more to discover, and to quote that well-worn travel guide cliché, I didn’t even scrape the surface.

I’ll be back. Until next time, hasta luego Barcelona.

Steven
UKB