Lapiztola : Oaxaca Street Art Collective
February 6th, 2010 by admin
Lapiztola is a Oaxaca based art collective that mixes brightly colored screen printed patterns with masterful monocromatic stencils. Their name, a play on words combining the spanish word for pencil (lapiz) with the word for pistol (pistola), demonstrates their guerilla approach to spreading their art work. The collective’s logo is an armophus pencil- handgun, an icon that they often use to sign their large scale urban insertions.
The collective produces politically engaged works that respond to local conditions. Lapiztola wants their work to relate to real human conditions, for this reason they often paint life size. For example, a large police car is stenciled across 15′ of a wall with a series of vandals jumping on top of the car. Thankfully, their work does leave the walls of Oaxaca. They have exhibited in some exciting art spaces through out the world, including Million Fishes in San Francisco, Concreto 2 in Mexico City, and a one of a kind show at University of Michigan.
Curbs and Stoops payed a visit to Lapiztola’s Oaxaca based silk screen and art studio where we had peeks at new pieces and the unique process Lapiztola uses for making images. The group doesn’t generally use source images. Instead, they take turns photographing each other in elaborate costumes which then become street pieces. Stay tuned for two exclusive limited edition prints coming out through Curbs and Stoops this spring.
You can follow Lapiztola on their blog here.
Studio visit photo credit: Philippe “As A Photographer” Dwyer
Tags: concreto2, lapiztola, mexico city, million fishes, oaxaca
