Portugal: Lisbon's graffiti and street art guide

The Portuguese capital has long held a reputation for eye-catching street art. The city is awash with tags and paste ups thanks to its endless winding alleyways which offer plenty of wall space. This isn't an exhaustive guide, just a few eye-catching spots.

If you are hunting street art royalty, start at Avenida Fontes Peirera de Melo (round the corner from Parque metro station, by the huge gardens where I left my wife and son enjoying the spectacular views). Here you'll find this huge scene by Os Gemeos, the Brazilian twins who've become global graffiti superstars. 

Their work is adjacent with that of Italian artist Blu, whose Big Oil character is sucking the world's resources through a straw. 

I love how the distinctive yellow figure has the slingshotted man clasped. 

The whole block is stunning.

Elsewhere, a trip to the trendy LX Factory provides good finds. Go on Sunday to enjoy the market, it's a short walk from Alcantara-Mar station, which has an impressively decorated subway itself. 

And some more from around the city:

And if you daytrip to Sintra the short, 40 minute, journey from Rossio station provides plenty of more interesting tags. And when you get there, it's an adult's Disneyland:

Photos: The street art of Valencia

On a sojourn to Valencia this week I was struck by how prolific and inventive the southeastern Spanish city's street art scene is. An already beautiful place with an historic old town with clusters of impressive buildings (a nip up the Torres de Serranos and a  swing by the ceramics museum are musts), the graffiti lifts the experience still further. 

Its university's central location - including a design school which has a shop well stocked with spray cans - doubtless plays a big part. Almost every available spot in the hipster hotspots of the centre's northwest side and its successor Rassafa are taken up with incredible throw-ups, recurring yet interesting tags/stencils and paste-ups. 

Like Madrid, the most startling images are found in both Valencia's tourist-filled heart and tired backstreets. There are loads of recurring themes ("Are you dead yet?" is repeatedly stencilled up) and artists whose work is familiar, probably from the pages of VNA, but I'll let the pictures do the talking. I took loads more, so give me a shout if you'd like to see them.

                  

         

        

                     

In focus: French graffiti artist Miss Van

Miss Van originally moved from canvas to the walls of her home town of Toulouse to "boycott" the conventional art world, but she is increasingly defining just that. One of the most famous graffiti artists worldwide, Vanessa Bensimon, known as Miss Van, has divided opinion with her army of doe-eyed femme fatale characters.

Like Banksy and Os Gemeos before her, she has created a cluster of characters which riff on the central theme, in her case sexualised, buxom bodies. Feminists have criticised Van's work, originally honed in partnership with Mademoiselle Kat before the former relocated to Barcelona, and its depiction of women. However, this sentiment is in stark contrast to Bensimon's feelings in creating the work. 

"Painting on walls allows me to keep my freedom; as it is illegal, there is no censorship. It is also a challenge, since each time I paint on a wall there is the risk of seeing my work erased," she explains on her website. "Since I like moving around and meeting people, so I prefer painting in the street. It also enables me to make my art accessible to a larger public audience."

This audience has been enhanced by collaborative shows with the likes of Shepard Fairey, Banksy and Mike Giant. Her location in Barcelona allows her fresh work to complement the city's stunning modernist style - crafted in part by Antoni Gaudí. 

Personally, I feel Miss Van is one of the most prolific and innovative contemporary graf artists and in creating a motif of feminine characters she has driven equality in an often male dominated graf scene. 



All images courtesy of Miss Van. See her in action here.