ROD PALMER
A leading Latin American centre of radical propaganda painting since 1940 - reflected chiefly through public murals - Chile is now home to a unique and extraordinarily vibrant street art scene. Since the end of the Pinochet dictatorship in 1990, Chile has embraced an era of new freedoms, clearly reflected through the prism of publicly accessible art forms. Today, old school muralists can be seen next to contemporary graffiti writers; each exhibiting a unique style yet sharing a rebellious spirit. Since 2000, politically engaged street art has cross-fertilized with graffiti to create a multi-faceted and rapidly developing panorama of politically didactic and ironically post political street art. In the Chile of today, Latin American propagandistic traditions encounter the rebelliousness of worldwide graffiti; the outcome is an approachable yet defiantly anarchic street art that plays a central role in the fabric of Chilean society and culture as reflected by the artful urban colorful expressions of adorned cityscapes.
