Street art in São Paulo: the City as a Canvas
Continuing my latest article here at London Art Walk’s website, this text is devoted to presenting the street art scene in São Paulo, which is as rich and broad as the city itself. It can be found in the furthest neighbourhoods from downtown, in the poorest parts of the town, as well as downtown and rich areas. In fact, some of the local street artists are well-known abroad and have created works in Europe, the USA, and other parts of the world (for instance, Nina Pandolfo, Os Gêmeos, and Zezão).
Before I list some of the most interesting places to spot and buy street art in São Paulo, it is essential to understand the difference between “pixo” and graffiti, both parts of the street art production. The former can be seen nearly everywhere, usually is almost impossible to decipher, and is mostly painted only in black. It is more of a competition among the “pixadores” to see who can paint on the tallest walls and riskiest places. There is no negotiation with the wall owners; they paint wherever they want.
Generally speaking, graffiti depends on negotiating with the owner (even if it is public), as it takes time to be painted. It also demands a greater amount of money because of the usual largeness of the covered area. It is usually signed, bears many colours, and definitely shows the author’s worldview poetically.
Beco do Batman — Batman Alley
The most famous graffiti area in town, this short and sinuous street has both sides filled with many colours of paint. It all started in the 1980s, a time when university students and artists started moving to Vila Madalena, the neighbourhood where this alley is located. The first artists to paint there were part of the art collective Tupinaodá, the first street art collective in Brazil. After that, someone painted a Batman on one of its walls, marking its baptism. From then on, hundreds or thousands of people have left a mark there. Artists that have been part of it are, for example, Os Gêmeos, Eduardo Kobra, Apolo Torres, Felipe Morozini, and Zezão. Each month, a graffiti is blanked to leave room for a new one.
During the weekends, there is a street fair offering food and handicrafts. In the Vila Madalena neighbourhood, you will find restaurants, ice cream shops, fancy bookshops, bars, cafes, and top-notch art galleries, such as Raquel Arnaud Gallery and Almeida & Dale Gallery on Fradique Street. If you want to buy some street art pieces, head to Alma da Rua Gallery or ZIV Gallery.
Rua Medeiros de Albuquerque.
Alma da Rua Gallery
Located on Batman Alley, it trades street art pieces, t-shirts, prints, photos, toy arts, and much more. It puts on shows periodically and trades art by names in the likes of Onesto, Cris Rodrigues, Binho Ribeiro, Mari Pavanelli, EDMX, Pato, Enivo, Elvis Mourão, Gatuno, and PAS. Created in 2016 on Gonçalo Afonso Street, in 2022 it opened a branch on Medeiros de Albuquerque Street. The headquarters’ facade is painted by a new artist from time to time.
Rua Medeiros de Albuquerque, 188 and
Rua Gonçalo Afonso 96.
ZIV Gallery
Located on Gonçalo Afonso Street, it was founded in 2021. It portrays itself not only as a gallery but also as a ‘meetings and experiences place,’ offering not only art but also food, music, and culture. ‘Ziv’ means light in Hebrew. The two-storey gallery has graffiti on both inside and outside walls. They trade lesser-known artists such as Dan Mabe, Diogo Snow, and William Pimentel.
Rua Gonçalo Afonso, 119.
Choque Cultural Gallery
This well-established gallery is located in a different neighbourhood, Jardins. Founded in 2004 by Baixo Ribeiro and Mariana Martins, it trades Brazilian artists in the likes of Alê Jordão, Presto, Daniel Melim, Flávia Itiberê, and Rafael Silveira, not to mention some foreigners like Tec and Adam Neate. It mostly sells paintings and prints but also some three-dimensional objects. The gallery owners have been involved in curating shows in places besides the gallery, such as museums and other institutions.
Alameda Sarutaiá, 206.
Minhocão Park
It is an intermittent park, i.e., it runs as a park from 8 pm to 10 pm on weekdays and from 7 am to 10 pm on the weekends and holidays. It is located on the Minhocão, a 3,400-meter-long high line crossing neighbourhoods like Santa Cecília and Barra Funda. People use it to walk, run, or ride bikes. As it stands many meters higher than the floor, it is a good place to see the facades of the buildings, in which there are many graffiti, by artists in the likes of Apolo Torres, Marina Wisnik, Os Tupis Collective, Hanna Lucatelli, Ryane Leão, and Loro Verz.
Via Elevado Pres. João Goulart. It can be accessed from many points.
Paulista Avenue
This avenue is not only filled with art inside its museums and institutions — some examples are Masp, Japan House, Sesc, and Itaú Cultural — but also on the outside of some of its buildings. The most famous graffiti there was done by Kobra and is near Japan House.
Avenida Paulista, 48.
Keep your eyes wide open
As it is clear from the beginning of this article, street art is widespread in the city of São Paulo. Here I tried to summarise the key points to spot or buy it, but what is important is to keep your eyes wide open, as in tunnels, high lines, large avenues or in any other place you will be able to stumble upon a graffiti to see, admire and enter the artist’s world.
Luis Sandes for London Art Walk
June 2025