Enzo & Nio support the petition to decriminalize street art in Barcelona
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- Published on Wednesday, 27 March 2013 19:47
In 2012 Enzo & Nio debuted their work in Europe in Barcelona, Spain. There they met a welcome and enthusiastic audience. Their work in Barcelona got them a lot of exposure including a magazine cover, an in-depth interview and a spot in the movie "Las Calles Hablan", a movie about the Barcelona street art scene.
Enzo & Nio's work in Barcelona exposed them to a lot of artists and other amazing people who are very serious and enthusiatistic about how street art positively effects the urban environment in the city. Unfortunately, beginning in 2006 the local government began conducting an increasingly restrictive campaign to eliminate this modern art movement from the city landscape. To date the government is actively persecuting, harassing and arresting artists and also removing incredible pieces of work from public spaces including masterpieces by Keith Haring and Os Gemeos! The government has also begun to dictate that street-art-friendly shop owners cannot have street art on their shop shutters!
In an effort to curb the local government's war on street art, the makers of the film "Las Calles Hablan" have created a petition to get the local government to cease their no-tolerance program and to see street art for what it really is: a cultural asset for Barcelona and many cities in the world just like it.
Enzo & Nio fully support the Barcelona Street Art Petition and urge their Spanish friends to investigate it and sign it. Enzo & Nio also encourage their fans from the USA and other cities and countries to support it in spirit and with encouragement to our Spanish friends.
Barcelona's Soul Report Interview: Enzo & Nio
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- Published on Wednesday, 27 March 2013 09:35
by Lula C. Sánchez for The Soul Report
¡Haga clic aquí para ver la versión en español!
Enzo & Nio have been one of the latest to drop their messages around Barcelona, despite in 2006 the Barcelona City Council passed a law which prohibited all types of urban art in the public spaces of the city. They have known each other for more than twenty years, but it was only a couple of years ago that they started working together, using the street as an artistic medium to display their creativity.
"…Barcelona is bustling yet laid back, passionate, welcoming, decadent yet thrift. Steeped in history but still looking forward…" -Nio Gallo
"…Barcelona is about energy and vibe, it is about art and music and food. It is about color and texture. It is about history, suffering and the rekindling of hope and joy…" -Enzo Sarto
The creative universe of Enzo & Nio is hard to define or label. In their work there is room for both social, economical and political criticism as well as humor “…we did not want to be limited nor defined by any singular image, topic or style…”. Their works seek to provoke reflection in the viewer, regardless of the reaction being positive or negative. What really matters is that the observers react.
To do so they use several tools from graphic design, photography to painting and different resources such as the sticker - Bomba and Cockshark- or the wheatpaste, the technique by which ultrathin paper posters are glued with a very resistant adhesive. Such is the case of Idols or their particular appropriation of Magritte’s work "…Doing a Mashup of a Magritte is just our way of paying homage with an E&N spin…"
Their first series, Future Now, displays masked and armed little girls to make us reflect on the catastrophe looming over our future if we steal their innocence today. From the series Future Now arises Idol, their next series, which explores and denounces women marginalization and undervaluation. They seized Catholic iconography such as niches and they replaced religious figures by little girls, teenagers and housewives who appear armed with guns and bombs. With their character Bomba, which was part of a very large sticker, they try to convey philosophical messages sometimes and make us smile at others. Similarly, with Cockshark they impact deeply on the absurdity of the consumer society and try to provoke reflection on how invasive advertising is on the city streets.
If taste is the ability we have to judge an object, work of art in this particular case, as something beautiful in a disinterested way, just for the sake of the pleasant satisfaction it produces, then the creative universe of Enzo & Nio, on top of captivating me, it strongly stimulates me and heightens me because with one image they tell us a history.
Hope and...bombs?
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- Published on Sunday, 26 February 2012 12:40
by Glenn Beck
Look at the above photo that was found in Brooklyn! We wonder if the media is reporting on any of the street art that openly calls for people to either occupy or face anarchy, with the “apathetic” clearly being the victims of anarchy if they don’t conform and fall in line with the “Occupy Wall Street” movement. Enzo and Nio are street artists in New York City, and have created several pieces of work sympathetic to the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, including the below (click for more)
10 Street Artists to Watch in 2012
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- Published on Tuesday, 10 January 2012 09:08
from Complex Magazine 
It's kind of crazy to see where street art has gone in the last decade. We've witnessed an explosion of interest, resulting in exhibitions, festivals, and (of course) websites dedicated to the subject. Obviously, street art has also tickled the fancy of the mainstream. Five years ago it would have seemed insane to suggest a street artist would work a campaign poster for the president. Or, sell big at auction.
Times have changed.
And, as the mainstream embraces street art and some artists grow to receive great recognition (for example, JR), the underground continues to bubble.
We linked with RJ Rushmore, the man behind Vandalog, to get a sense of where the street art scene is heading in 2012. He ably offered up a few names and talked us through the folks he thinks are next.
Of Enzo & Nio RJ says, "This duo seemed to have come out of nowhere to make some of the most tumblr-friendly street art of 2011. It's difficult to be a funny or clever street artist without being written off as another Banksy clone, but Enzo and Nio are pulling it off." (Click to see original article)
An Evening with Enzo & Nio
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- Published on Wednesday, 31 August 2011 10:38
"...After walking around for a little more than an hour, we headed over to a bar whose name is already a blur. We sat and chatted about random things; not their works. They don’t like discussing their work as it might lead to them affecting the way I interpret it, therefore; it is never discussed, they prefer it this way. We share several good laughs, plenty of smiles and already they’re mocking my skills. As I pathetically finish my first beer, Nio’s gulping the last bits of his second beer, and we take back to the streets.
As we geared up, the medium used to convey their messages changed to the more risky wheatpasting method. Enzo pointed out that everything being put up that night was brand-spanking new and I couldn’t help but take pleasure in both the knowledge and experience of witnessing it hit the streets. And so, your not-so-traditional schoolgirls and soccer moms were suddenly taking over blank walls (read, canvases)..." (For more photos and the entire story click here).
