The Ephemeral Street Art of a Bold Visionary
By Peter Occhiogrosso
Across cultures and centuries, certain artistic traditions have embraced impermanence. Among the Navajo in the American Southwest and Tibetan Buddhist monks, intricate works like sand paintings and mandalas are created not to last, but to vanish — symbolic of life’s transient nature.
The Navajo depict mythological stories in colored sand, only to ceremoniously sweep the designs back into the earth. Similarly, Tibetan monks craft vivid mandalas from dyed sand, dismantling them in ritual to reflect the fleeting cycles of existence.
At first glance, this might seem worlds apart from the wild, hilarious, and haunting work of Spanish artist Francisco de Pájaro, also known as Art Is Trash. But the deeper you go, the more striking the connection becomes.
Laughing at Chaos: Art from the Streets
Barcelona Street Art
The first time I encountered de Pájaro’s work, I wasn’t thinking about spiritual symbolism — I was laughing. Out loud. His spontaneous street installations, built entirely from trash and debris, mix absurdity with harsh social critique.
Picture a cluster of clear garbage bags filled with soda cans, suddenly transformed into terrified characters. A dumpster becomes a skeletal horse. A used mattress leans against a post, and from behind it lurks a hooded figure with an Uzi — except the gun is a dripping paint roller.
This is alchemy through street art — visceral, satirical, and incredibly human.
Art Reborn from Rejection
De Pájaro's journey began not in a gallery, but just outside one. After a disheartening exhibition experience in his hometown of Barcelona, he turned to the streets. Finding an abandoned wardrobe, he scrawled “El arte es basura” — Art is Trash — across it.
A passerby filmed the moment, drawing a curious crowd. That spark ignited an evolving public performance: painting directly on trash, using markers, acrylics, and tape to form limbs and life. By choosing discarded objects — mattresses, bathtubs, wooden planks — he was technically avoiding vandalism. “It’s not private property,” he argued, “it’s trash.”
Thus began a new artistic rebellion, using society’s waste as both canvas and subject.
From Goya to Garbage
Though de Pájaro acknowledges influences like Picasso and Dalí, his grotesque, impulsive figures evoke a much older namesake: Francisco de Goya. Like Goya, de Pájaro blends darkness, satire, and emotion to reflect human contradiction — the sacred and profane side by side.
According to Tommy Blaquiere, the London gallery owner who wrote the foreword to Art Is Trash, de Pájaro also draws inspiration from Mortadelo y Filemón, a wildly absurd Spanish comic series by Francisco Ibáñez Talavera. But unlike ink-on-paper comics, de Pájaro’s creations are fleeting. Their lifespan is measured in hours before the city sweeps them away.
The Beauty of Impermanence
In the end, his work resonates with those ancient traditions — not because it copies them, but because it shares their soul. Like Tibetan mandalas or Navajo sand paintings, de Pájaro’s art embraces impermanence. It’s a dance with decay. A performance of rebirth. A statement that refuses to be sold or hung on a wall.
As the garbage trucks arrive to claim his latest creation, there's no protest — just acceptance. The art returns to the street, to the earth, to dust. And that, perhaps, is the truest form of artistic freedom.
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About the Author:
Peter Occhiogrosso is the author or co-author of 25 books on topics ranging from spirituality and world religions to pain relief and healing. He started his career as a jazz journalist in New York and co-wrote The Real Frank Zappa Book. His latest book, Circles of Belief, explores the world’s spiritual traditions. Learn more at peterocchiogrosso.com.
