SpY joined the art scene as a graffiti artist in Madrid in the mid 80s; once he became a national reference, SpY decided to explore other aspects of the urban space, while maintaining graffiti a relevant influence in his work. Since then, his name has been associated with diverse and ironic interventions. Having been called “The Spanish Banksy” by U.K. magazine Wired, SpY has had his work featured on important platforms of worldwide culture.
SpY’s creations have been shown on individual and collective urban interferences exhibits in Spain, Holland and Germany, and are also featured on a number of art books, such as New Skateboard Graphics, Tactile and ESC: Enter Spanish Creativity. Nevertheless, his urban interventions transcend the limitations of gallery exhibition, given that many of SpY’s pieces are meant to affect and surprise pedestrians who are automatically driven to a state of inertia by the streets’ monotony.
SpY’s projects are characterized by simplicity and uniqueness, and range from filling a soccer goal with bricks to gathering a large amount of autumn leaves in the shape of a circle, as well as opposing Spanish bullfighting by painting in red a 14-metre black silhouetted image of a bull (the unofficial symbol of the country), erected around the late 50s on the site of a road.
Some remarkable examples of SpY’s appropriation and transformation of urban elements are the heads of public statues in Madrid, which the artist covered with paper bags (including little holes for the eyes, a humorous note), buckets, snorkels and gas masks. The artist is also known for writing conceptual messages on public walls, something he sees as a free and selfless act, but that may be interpreted by some as meaningless vandalism.
On his journey towards awakening the urban environment, SpY has placed braille messages in strategic spots for blind readers; he has also placed traffic cones over the horns of the Wall Street Bull in New York; SpY has put “FOR SALE” signs on churches; and he has also questioned the issue of obsessive surveillance by placing fake security cameras in useless positions, facing quite bizarre spots – such as garbage bins.
The artist has also hit the streets of Tokio, Osaka and Kioto with his “SpY no” campaign. SpY placed 5,000 A3 posters of 60 different models around the cities, with statements such as SpY, porque yo no lo valgo (SpY, because I’m not worth it) and SpY no redecora tu vida (SpY does not redecorate your life).
The development of some pieces can be seen on video: click here to watch SpY as he attaches a clown’s nose to a street ad, and click here to see the artist as he transforms another street ad into his own message.
