Vandals and Visigoths

Chess graffiti
Originally uploaded by Tisane.

The economic problems of the past five years have left a lot of artists in Buenos Aires out of work, and many of them have turned to graffiti as galleries have shut down. Unlike DC, however, where Cool "Disco" Dan and Borf are about as close as we usually get to creative graffiti, or New York, where graffiti are usually either large team murals or relatively straightforward (if baroquely executed) tags, Buenos Aires is covered with work from Banksy-esque stencil artists. It's become a democratic artform...and apparently anyone with a sharpie can play.