The latest batch of urban art in Barcelona

Those who understand Big Data explain that telephone companies have real-time information on all our movements. We must imagine millions of points moving on the map of Barcelona, like little ants coming and going, leaving home now and in the afternoon entering four stores to do their daily shopping. In addition, this gigantic geolocator discriminates between Spanish and foreign mobile phones, and therefore this data is a goldmine for understanding tourist flows, where they sleep, where they eat, and which routes they find most interesting.

If this information were public, we could verify that the point located at Rambla de Catalunya 22, a little before reaching the Hotel Calderón, is a hotspot, an obligatory stop where all foreigners stop. If we also crossed the data with the images posted on Instagram, we would realize that these coordinates in the Eixample are a nest of photographs. And that they do not portray the perfumery, nor the umpteenth terrace with questionable paellas, but the work of art hanging from the balcony of the first floor, a white sheet with the face of a creature looking at us, stamped in black and signed with the signature Why? (Why?).

For four years now, we have been seeing children's faces addressing us from facades all over the country. Faces of children looking at us, without a smile, scrutinizing. This urban art project is not the work of an anonymous Banksy, nor of some budding graffiti artist eager for notoriety, but of the Barcelona illustrator Carme Solé Vendrell, an institution with more than 1,000 books under her belt, who at seventy decided to make the streets her own and claim children's rights in her most powerful series. The Why series is a large family, with more than sixty children, and as the author explains, who currently has a retrospective exhibition at the Palau Robert, all are real, inspired by photographs taken from information about refugees or children of wars that she only sketches and presents in this schematic and impactful way.

There are many more wonders of urban art in Barcelona. Another classic of recent years is the mysterious couple who hang motivational phrases with recycled cans. Don't expect Nietzsche quotes; they can everything from self-help slogans to verses from Dragon Ball, from an addicted to love to Hakuna Matata, stamped on sets of beer cans, but also olive cans and all kinds of preserves.

And among the new generation artists, the best known perhaps would be Btoy, the nickname of Andrea Michaelsson, who for years has been amazing us with stencils featuring Amy Winehouse, Björk or Angela Davis, Axe Colours, specialists in murals with series characters, such as Walter White from Breaking Bad or Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones, and the Italian TVBOY, the king of kisses, who after stamping kisses between Messi and Cristiano these days was stamping on his unofficial wall –in front of the Apple Store in Plaça Catalunya– a kiss with tongue of Quim Torra and Pedro Sánchez. And among the latest additions are the feel-good shutters by La Isla Works in some parts of the city, such as in Torrent de Vidalet, which are also a constant parade of tourists.

The most veteran will remember that, for years, the graffiti mecca of the city was the wall in front of the CCCB, where spray stars painted wonders while the UB's Faculty of Philosophy, Geography and History was being built. Currently, the pilgrimage site to see urban art is in Sagrera, at Nau Bostik, which permanently displays about twenty murals by local and international artists. If you go, your Instagram will thank you.

Featured images: 1. Artist painting a mural at Nau Bostik in Barcelona. 2. Canvas painted by Carme Solé Vendrell at Palau Robert. 3. Stencil by urban artist Btoy, in the Gràcia neighborhood.