- Colombian Street Art for Home -
Background
In the Colombian city of Cali, the capital of salsa and the protest movements against the grievances in the country, a small printing workshop - with the help of a small group of artists - has successfully resisted the ubiquitous digital transformation in recent years and brought classic poster printing back to life in its most original form.
Since then, renowned street artists from all over Latin America have come together in numerous workshops to put their colorful and world-famous street art down on paper. Only methods from the early years of printing technology (including lithographic printing) are used. The design is painstakingly scratched on linoleum or wood, which is then used as a printing plate for the historical machines from the years 1870 - 1890 is used.
The artworks created in the course of these workshops are printed in limited editions on unbleached sugar cane paper, numbered and finally signed by the respective artist.
- Features -
After painstaking completion, some posters (find details in respective product description) are marked as follows:
- Sizes -
The posters are produced in different sizes , each individual design is only available in a certain size - see online shop .
To give you an idea of the most common sizes (50x35 cm, 70x50 cm and 66x100 cm), you can find a comparison below in the image below:
In addition there are occasional posters with the dimensions 50x70 cm and 100x70 cm.
- Paper -
Printed on high-quality and ecological CALIMA® paper, made in Colombia by a German manufacturer. This 100 percent sugar cane paper is an environmental-friendly alternative because it is made from sugar cane fibers - a by-product of sugar production in the Cauca Valley - and protects the country's valuable tree population.
No bleaching or dyeing chemicals are used in the production process, allowing the paper to retain its natural cream color.
Please note that due to the printing methods used, the historic machinery and massive handwork, some of the posters may contain slight smears. These minor blemishes are to be understood as the fingerprint of each individual poster and testify their authenticity.
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The Workshop
Now to the birthplace of each poster. As already mentioned, the small and authentic workshop is located in the historic old town of Cali and specializes in the production of posters, which are produced exclusively by hand and the use of historical machines from the years 1870 - 1890. Due to the use of much manual labor and the limited production capacity of the aging machines, only selected designs are considered for printing and only small poster quantities are produced.
Several times a year, the workshop - which is run by a small group of artists - receives visits from street artists from all over Colombia and other South and Central American countries. In the course of these workshops, the artists create designs that are then painstakingly scratched by hand onto a linoleum or wooden plate. With the help of these plates, which serve as printing templates, the historic machines are then put to work - just as they were more than 130 years ago!
The fact that the workshop tries to maintain a piece of history under difficult conditions and yet always has an ear for social and societal issues that they put on paper, has now given them a cult status. In the meantime, the workshop has become a meeting place for the art scene, where small concerts and other events take place time and again.
The photos show the production hall, artists at work, historic machines and various tools. So everything it takes to create such special posters - of course except for the necessary creativity and the salsa music running around the clock in the background...one of the main sources of inspiration of all Colombians!
Natürlich ist im Hintergrund trotz des Lärms, immer die Hauptinspirationsquelle der Künstler:innen zu hören: Salsa-Musik... /// Of course, despite the noise, one of the main sources of inspiration for the artists can always be heard in the background: Salsa music...
Ein anderer Künstler beim Linolschnitt mit Designvorlage. /// Another artist making a linocut according to a design template.
Kräftige Farben zur Untermalung des lateinamerikanischen Stils. /// Bold colors to underline the Latin American style.
Natürlich ist im Hintergrund trotz des Lärms, immer die Hauptinspirationsquelle der Künstler:innen zu hören: Salsa-Musik... /// Of course, despite the noise, one of the main sources of inspiration for the artists can always be heard in the background: Salsa music...