Graffiti Buster

What do you think of graffiti?

In general it just looks like vandalism to me. Okay, every once in a blue moon you get a Haring, Basquiat or Banksy, but you know… hardly ever. Mostly it’s crappy blobby spray-painted messes that only serve to make neighbourhoods look shabby.

I guess when a building is abandoned, like the one in the before & after pics on the left, and its windows have already been covered over with layers of tacky posters, it’s not any worse to have a couple of guys from a local gallery come and paint that over with their website logo. But many shop and restaurant owners would have to repaint their properties on a weekly basis just to have clean walls for a day or two.

So I was surprised to come across Alexandra Del Bene the other day while on my way home from a walk around the Alameda. She was busy with both spray cans and paint brushes painting the window protectors of the Santa Marta Bar (home of Sevilla’s largest flamenquín!), but it looked to me as if she were doing a job and not just a hit and run burst of “artistic expression”, so I stopped and asked if she’d been commissioned to paint the Santa Marta. Turns out that a lot of people have been commissioning her to paint their storefronts so that they won’t get vandalised by roving so-called “graffiti artists”, who curiously don’t vandalise Alexandra’s stuff. I guess it’s a sort of professional courtesy?

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[click to enlarge]

Alexandra showed me her business cards, which are decorated with pics of her various projects, and it turned out that one – a candy store – was just around the corner, so I also got a snap of that one. Anyhow, we had a nice long chat and it struck me how much more interesting life is when you stop and talk to people instead of just walking by.

Cathedral Rooftop Visit

These are a few photos I took whilst trying not to panic the other day when I went on that fabulous Cathedral rooftop tour. It truly was one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences, though not the best place for an agoraphobic like me. But I was very pleased with myself that I managed to get through and even take that video I posted below. I admit that a few of these photos were actually taken with my eyes shut – especially those where I had to lean over the railing under the vaulted Cathedral ceiling. Later when I got back down I could not believe that I’d really been standing behind those huge wooden angels. In fact, I still can’t believe it. Go me!

Metropol Parasol

Undecided…

This past Sunday was the official opening of the Metropol Parasol – aka Las Setas (wild mushrooms). I stayed away from the celebrations but snapped this pic of it yesterday once everything was back to the usual work-a-day crowds. While it was going up, which took years, I hated the damn thing as much as everyone else seemed to and couldn’t imagine how such a monstrosity would “fit” into such a beautiful old city as Sevilla. Though it’s actually sitting in the middle of the Encarnación Plaza, which had its heart and soul cut out of it during a fit of sixties “rebuilding” which destroyed palaces and old houses and left a strip of hideous office buildings and storefronts. But I digress…

The Setas (how can you not call them that?) are on the original site of the Encarnación Market which was levelled and moved to a “temporary” site next door … about 35 years ago. I don’t know the whole story there other than the original site was pretty much a parking lot when I first moved to Sevilla in 1993, then they started digging it up and discovered ruins that held up any building for several years. And then they started constructing The Setas.

The market was shifted over just before Christmas last year and although the building is now officially “open” there’s still some construction going on. When the scaffolding first started coming down, unveiling the first seta (in the foreground of the photo) I was startled to find myself liking how elegant it looked, swooping up towards the sky. But as more of the structure became visible I became less entranced. So I remain undecided. I guess the real test will be how well the site ends up being used. Aside from the market there will be bars and restaurants (coming soon!), and there’s a big shaded area up on the first level which has a small playground for children, benches for adults, and will apparently be used for concerts. There is also a walkway along top of the structure with panoramic views of the city which residents of Sevilla will be able to access free of charge. Anyhow, for better or worse, there it is.

What do you think?

Butting Out

Today marks the beginning of the new smoking ban in Spain, which effects all “enclosed spaces of public or collective use”. There are many opinions surrounding the new anti-smoking law, both positive and negative, including worries about the possible adverse effects on bars and cafés, as stated here by Graham Hunt. And many people think that Spaniards will just ignore the law and continue to allow smoking in their establishments.

I’m not so sure. First of all because bar owners would face being fined, but also because when the first stage of the anti-smoking law came into effect in 2006 people adjusted to it surprisingly well. Used to be I’d walk into the bank or post office and workers would be sitting there with heaping ashtrays on their desks, and almost every tapas bar was so full of smoke that it would seriously interfere with enjoying a meal. These days – at least in Seville – I seldom notice smoke in tapas bars and restaurants, so it’s hard to imagine that taking this next step is going to prove too difficult for smokers to handle, or that it would seriously affect their social habits. Also, there have been a lot of comments by Spanish people on places like Twitter saying how great it’s going to be not to have to put up with second-hand smoke anymore, so there is clearly some positive opinion about the anti-smoking law.

What do you think? How will the new law effect you as a smoker, a business owner or a client? Are you for it, against it, indifferent?