If you walk through Barcelona at night, the city's trash can turn into art. An old mattress becomes a laughing monster, a broken chair becomes a creature with wild eyes, a pile of cardboard turns into a face that looks straight back at you. By morning the cleaning trucks have taken it away. That is the point. Behind these short-lived works is Art Is Trash, the alter ego of the Spanish artist Francisco de Pájaro, one of the most original voices of street art in Barcelona.
Who is Art Is Trash?
Francisco de Pájaro was born in Zafra, a small town in Extremadura. He started drawing and painting seriously in 1990 while doing all kinds of jobs to get by. He went to the School of Applied Arts in Mérida but left after a year and a half, co-founded a small signage and decorative painting business at home, and in 2002 left everything behind to try to live from art in London. It did not work out. At the end of 2003 he came to Barcelona for the first time, and he stayed.
He spent years in insecure jobs. Then, in the middle of 2009, everything came together at once: the financial crisis in Spain, low-paid work, rules against free expression in the street, and galleries that showed no interest in his paintings. He went out onto the streets of Barcelona and started painting on the trash. That was the start of El Arte es Basura – Art Is Trash. You can read the whole story in his own words on his about page.
Spontaneous, instinctive, ephemeral
Art Is Trash calls the character an "anti-hero costume". It lets him paint on objects people have thrown away and criticize, freely, the things that bother him. His work in the street is radically spontaneous: quick, without academic technique, driven by his mood, and made to give passers-by a simple, clear message. Sometimes it is funny, sometimes rude, often political, and always direct.
The name is a statement too. Francisco does not think art should take itself so seriously. For him, feeding people who are hungry matters more than any artwork. That attitude made him a favourite of the international press. You will find a collection of articles and interviews in the Art Is Trash press section.
From the streets of Barcelona to the world
What started next to the bins of Barcelona has travelled far. His trash characters became famous in London, and today his work reaches collectors from the USA and the UK to France, Germany, Colombia, Dubai and China. The exhibitions of Art Is Trash show how the street project grew into gallery shows, and his large murals prove he works just as well on walls as on old furniture. Many of the pieces are documented in his street art videos, which are the best way to see how quickly a new character appears.
Buying an original Art Is Trash
The works in the street disappear, but the artist also creates pieces to keep. If you want something more than a photo from your trip to Barcelona, you can buy:
- original paintings on canvas – loud colour, raw lines, signed by the artist
- works on paper – drawings and paintings, a great way to start a collection
- Art Is Trash prints – affordable editions of his best-known motifs
- sculptures – his trash characters in a form that lasts
There is also a book about his life, from Zafra to Poblenou. You can order the Art Is Trash book directly from the artist.
Where to see Art Is Trash in Barcelona
There is no fixed map. Most new pieces appear at night, on the street, next to the bins, and are gone by the next morning. Your best chance is to walk through El Born, the Gothic Quarter, El Raval and Poblenou in the evening. To find out where he has been recently, follow him on Instagram @artistrash or Facebook. For commissions, exhibitions or collaborations, use the contact page of Art Is Trash.
"I paint by instinct, spontaneous and visceral, assuming all the positive and negative consequences that this way of doing it entails." – Francisco de Pájaro
Barcelona has many famous names, from Gaudí to Miró to Picasso. But if you want to know what the street is saying today, look down at the trash. Sooner or later, Art Is Trash will be looking back at you.
