April 09, 2008

Cebu Street Plan: KOLOWN


Colon Street is a crowded street in downtown Cebu City that is often called the oldest street in the Philippines. It is named after Christopher Columbus. It traces its origins to the town plan by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, the Spanish conquistador who arrived in the Philippines to establish a colony in 1565.

Colon, a bit run-down now, was the site of fashionable shops, offices and movie houses. It was once the heart of Cebu City's shopping and business activity, but recently Kolown colonized the streets of Cebu!

1. Stickers by Ivan, BartBombsWorld, SamPipeBomb, Kolown, Tristan, and Rotten. Telephone Box near UP Cebu
2. Archbishop Reyes. St. Graffiti by Ivan
3. Plank, Road going to Ayala
4. "Andres Bonifacio: the original gangster" posters, Escario St.

Kolown claims himself to be more of an artist working on public art, than a rebel street vandal. It is unbelievable that. though his public art thesis proposal has ultimately been denied by his Fine Arts professors, he still continues to pursue it despite the expenses and energy this movement costs him.

Whether the case that this is merely an act of obsessive, egotist sensationalism is true or not, and though Kolown may not have been the first to have deconsecrated a wall with a can of spraypaint, it is undeniable that Kolown is the pioneer at attempting to bring Cebuano Street Graffiti within the context of Fine Art.

thanks to Senyor Uzi! http://uzii.multiply.com/