Adding color to life

Bogotá’s graffiti scene may radiate immense creativity, but public appreciation of its art mostly only ends with lavish fines as a result. Red Bull Aerosoul gave Columbia’s best writers acknowledgement and support for the first time – and the opportunity to network with international master sprayers.

It’s a kind of Red Bull Music Academy, where colors rather than sounds are the experimental tools used – an approximate description of Red Bull Aerosoul. For five days local writers, designers, illustrators, students, youth councilors and others interested in graffiti embarked the colorful path of an often misunderstood form of art. The process was both theoretical as well as hands-on using a spray can.

Workshops with Loomit and Peeta

Red Bull Aerosoul opened with an exhibition in Valenzuela Klenner’s gallery, where the philosophy, history and development of the scene was illuminated using impressive examples. In the following days, two international hallmark personalities from the graffiti scene worked on tags with the local artists: Loomit (Mathias Koehler) from Germany and Peeta (Manuel Di Rita) from Italy each shared their graffiti knowledge with two groups of 11 Columbian sprayers respectively, gave them tips about concepts and technical execution, and together developed ideas on how to enliven the sterile concrete vistas.

From 'characters' to 'freestyle'

Each day of the three-day workshop had a different artistic focus. Illustrations and realistic motives were on the program on the first day; then came ‘Wild Style’ and ‘Characters’, and on the third, the spray can and imagination were given free reign in the ‘Freestyle’ workshop. “It was great to be able to improve my skills,” said a workshop participant after the last session. “But what was more important was that events like this help our art gain the recognition it deserves.”