Full Colors is decentralised to add a splash of colour to different points in the city

The fourth graffiti and urban art open-air exhibition Full Colors will take place on 17 and 18 October at different points round the city. This year, the competition has been decentralised to add colour to more and more corners of Rubí, framed within the Rubí Jove (Young Rubí) Street Art Project that – among other aims – promotes art and artistic expression in urban spaces as areas that all residents share and enjoy.

Thus, Full Colors has spread beyond its normal staging ground – Plaça Josep Tarradellas, where two murals will be painted – and extended to another five locations: the car park behind Rubí Forma, at Les Torres; the Rubí Frontennis Club, at Ca n’Oriol; La Cruïlla – Pinar Community Centre; Plaça Pla i Pallejà, in the centre; and at the Francesc Calvo courts, where members of the association Fem Graff will be spraying.

The motto for this edition, People Power, ‘is important because we have all gone through a really tough situation, in which we are still immersed, but which has let us witness so many examples of solidarity and joy’ commented Mayor Ana María Martínez Martínez. According to our municipal leader, that is one big thing that we can take away as a positive from the health emergency we are living through. That is why the City Council suggested this topic to the artists, with the aim that Full Colors could turn the city’s public spaces into true homages showcasing the very best of us and, in turn, fill the municipality with colour.

And this festival is another initiative that fits extremely well with the Color campaign, which views colours as a way to transform and improve public spaces. Indeed, Full Colors is framed within the Street Art project promoted by Rubí Jove (Young Rubí), for art and artistic expression in urban spaces, changing Rubí’s colour via high-quality artistic interventions throughout the city, providing the artists with a network of municipally-owned and private walls where they can graffiti pieces and foster creativity, making art a tool for social change in neighbourhoods.

This year, coinciding with Full Colors, the Rubí Street Art walk will be launched. The City Council has brought together the urban artworks that we see every day in the city – in Plaça Figueres and at Torre Bassas for example – putting their geolocations on the Rubí Ciutat app, forming an urban art walk that will be employed to highlight their value and share these pieces, publicising them among the people of Rubí.

Due to the present health crisis, this year we decided to invite only graffiti artists from the province who had already participated in previous editions. The confirmed names are Leim, Emak, Musa, Harry Bones, Maga, Kram, Zurik and Kets, Axia, Mala, Baie and Urih.

The councilwoman for Youth, Annabel Cuesta Fabre, regretted that live music wasn’t possible this year, which is normally provided by La Sonik, although she did confirm that two youth groups will be there, La Skateboarding Rubí and the Gravity Down Parkour, each conducting a workshop with all advisable protection measures, with advance registration.

‘I want to thank local organisations participating at the festival for their hard work and complicity because, despite the tough situation we are in, they have stepped up to the plate and done everything possible to make Full Colors a reality and ensure that our city keeps adding colour.’

On his part, Urih, representing the graffiti association Petados Crew, the festival promoter, expressed his appreciation and excitement: ‘When the City Council told me that they wanted to do Full Colors, it was magical, because culture has received so most during the pandemic. We are lucky because as street artists we’ve got the opportunity to slowly come out of our caves and start painting Rubí again.’

We women paint a lot

Full Colors added Fem Graff, a proposal by the Equality Service that was part of the city-wide programming to support 8M (the strike on International Women’s Day), which had to be suspended.

These exclusive graffiti pieces by young ladies, presented under the motto Les dones pintem molt (We women paint a lot), was done at the Francesc Calvo courts, with the participation of artists including Rosa Roselló, Megui, San, Nataxa Ruzafa, Paola Lujjan and Mònica Rivas.

The councilwoman for Equality, Yolanda Ferrer Polo, explained that ‘via this initiative, we want to keep advocating real gender equality between women and men’. These female graffiti artists, many of whom are from Rubí, will spray to publicise women’s art ‘to make it more visible. We want to defend female art, because we’ve got a lot to say,’ she said.

Rosa Roselló Garrigó, illustrator of the 8M poster and one of the graffiti artists, talked about Fem Graff: ‘We’re a group of ladies from Vallès who were really excited to join Full Colors. We want to demand more spaces for women graffiti artists and we want to be part of Rubí Colors and help create a lovely and inclusive space with total equality.’

Fem Graff stands up for women having their own voices in art, who often remain invisible. And the fact is that women have much to say and much to express.