Pictures from Dec. 26

---

I recently visited the hottest street in Bucharest of street art. It was, appropriately, named after Arthur Verona, a painter. Though he would not recognize the style of the artwork on his street, I think he would appreciate the gesture.

I am not as up on all the obscure Romanian personages as I should be, so I looked him up. He was a turn of the century artist who gave up a military career to paint. He studied in Vienna, Paris and Munich before settling in Bucharest. He was part of the "Baia Mare" school of painters and worked on landscapes, portraits, nudes, and fresco work, particulary at the Catacuzino Palace in Bucharest. His workshop in Piata Victoriei burned down, unfortunately, so a great deal of his original work has been lost to time.

His work was exhibited in many European cities, from Vienna to Brussels. He was recognized by many royal heads, including Queen Marie of Romania. Unfortunately, after the invasion of the Germans in WWI, his character was called into question for spending so much time studying under German artists. After this, many began to criticize his work, partially because of prejudice that remained after the war. Before he was to retire, his workshop burned down one last time. He died in 1946 in Bucharest, forgotten and misunderstood.

Obviously, his name was restored enough to name a street after him.

Also, I would like to point out that not all the streets in Bucharest are covered in graffiti, I just happen to always have a camera handy when I run into one (not literally).

Lets see what other streets come my way.

---

Photos

Strada Arthur Verona
There is an awesome little street full of the greatest graffiti, named for Arthur Verona, who was a painter.

Graffiti 2
Legal Eagle...I didn't see any lawyers on this street at the time.

Graffiti 3
The right side of the street is some crazy mural, which I will show you in detail. Written on the mural: All cops are bastards, Yemen, Die Multiply, MS 13 (which is really, really out of place), Miss Sheep, and a lot of silly creatures.

Graffiti 4
A continuation of the details on the wall: Oiless, Los Tortillas, Ghetto Pirates. The random things written over the original mural are newer and very Spanish in flavor, not really sure why.

Graffiti 6
Pisica Patrata, which means "square cat", 2008.

Graffiti 7
"Bunch of Stuff"...love the bird in the corner.

Graffiti 10
Lots of cars everywhere on the street, along the sidewalk and everywhere you can't legally park.

Graffiti 12
One badass panda bear.

Graffiti 13
On overlook of the entire right side of the street.

Graffiti 14
The other side of the street. This is the coolest 3-D effect I have ever seen used in graffiti so far on the streets of Bucharest.

Graffiti 15
Okay, this actually really gets on my nerves. The graffiti of the eyes looking was really well done and some nasty person had to graffiti over it so the eyes looked bloodshot. There should be some respect on the streets.