Alex Vallauri (born Alessandro Vallauri;

Asmara Asmara ( ), or Asmera (), is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region (Eritrea), Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the List of capital cities by altitude, sixth highest capital in the wo ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

, 9 October 1949

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, 27 March 1987) was a Brazilian artist of Italian origin. Vallauri is a pioneer of

street art Street art is visual art created in public locations for public visibility. It has been associated with the terms "independent art", "post-graffiti", "neo-graffiti" and guerrilla art. Street art has evolved from the early forms of defiant gr ...

and

graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

in the country.

Biography

Vallauri moved to Brazil with his family, settling first in the seaside town of Santos, where he trained the technique of engraving - depicting people in the port of Santos - and later to the state capital. In 1965 he graduated in Visual Communication from the

Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado FAAP (Armando Alvares Penteado Foundation) was founded in 1947 by Earl Armando Alvares Penteado, whose objective was to support, promote and develop the plastic and scenic arts, culture and teaching. The university has twelve thousand students ...

institution, where he taught drawing a few years later. In 1975 he went to

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, Sweden to specialize in Graphic Arts at Litho Art Center. Returning to Brazil in 1977, Vallauri continued to graffiti in public spaces, this time on the walls of São Paulo. At the same time he studied new ways of engraving applications, such as

xerography Xerography is a dry photocopying technique. Originally called electrophotography, it was renamed xerography—from the Greek roots , meaning "dry" and , meaning "writing"—to emphasize that unlike reproduction techniques then in use such as c ...

. Between 1982 and 1983 Vallauri went to New York to study graphic arts at the

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...

. There, he met

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the neo-expressionism movement. Basquiat first achieved notoriety in the late 1970s as part of the graffiti ...

and

Keith Haring Keith Allen Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the Graffiti in New York City, New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. His animated imagery has "become a widely recognized visual l ...

. After returning to Brazil, he began to teach at FAAP. He participated in the 18th Bienal de São Paulo in 1985, with an installation, featuring his work ''Festa da Rainha do Frango Assado'' (Roasted Chicken Queen Party) and his work deserved retrospective at the Museu da Imagem e do Som in 1998. Vallauri died of AIDS on 27 March, 1987.

Art

A pioneer in the art of graffiti in Brazil, Alex used other medias besides the urban walls; he stamped shirts, badges and stickers. For him, graffiti was a form of communication that most closely matched his ideal of art for all. His preferred technique was stencilling; one of his recurring stencils was a high-heeled black boot (Bota Preta). In the mid-1970s, his interest in

kitsch ''Kitsch'' ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as Naivety, naïve imitation, overly eccentric, gratuitous or of banal Taste (sociology), taste. The modern avant-garde traditionally opposed kitsch ...

objects led him to photograph tile panels painted in the 1950s and pasted on the walls of restaurants in São Paulo. His photographic records resulted in the video Arte Para Todos, shown at the International São Paulo Biennial in 1977.

Bibliography

* " Alex Vallauri Graffiti", João j. Spinelli, Editora Bei, 2010, Brasil.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vallauri, Alex 1949 births 1987 deaths AIDS-related deaths in São Paulo (state) Brazilian artists Brazilian people of Italian descent Street artists 20th-century Brazilian painters 20th-century Brazilian male artists