In his latest public art, the Italian graffiti artist TVBoy has decided to send anti-war and pro-peace messages, and he has done so by modifying several traffic signs in central Barcelona. In the face of escalating armed conflict in different parts of the world, the street artist has produced a number of designs with generic anti-war messages that are superimposed on traffic signs in the Catalan capital. Specifically, the artist has carried out these actions near the Casa Batlló, La Pedrera and Palau Robert, that is, along Passeig de Gràcia, one of the best-known and busiest streets in the city. He announced it himself in a message on his X account.
"I was looking for a sign of peace and I couldn't find any, so I decided to install a few myself," writes the Italian artist. The first of the images attached is a dove of peace, seen with architect Antoni Gaudí's Casa Batllo in the background, the second, showing two raised hands holding a rifle broken in the middle, outside Gaudí's La Pedrera and the third, near the Palau Robert gallery, converts a no-parking sign into a "ban the bomb" image. Although he does not refer to any specific conflict, it is assumed that the artist is mainly referring to the conflict between Israel and Hamas. In fact, on January 5th, much celebrated in Catalonia as the night of the traditional arrival of the Three Kings, TVBoy published a street mural of the three illustrious visitors holding packages featuring the word 'peace', in Arabic, Latin and Hebrew. "Salam, Pax, Shalom. Regardless of our beliefs, there is a path that the wise among us can walk. Happy Epiphany," his message reads.
An artist committed to peace
TVBoy is an artist committed to peace, as evidenced by the fact that last November he participated in the 15th edition of the World Peace Forum, which was held in Barcelona. It was the first time that this Congress was held in the Spanish state, and it featured more than 50 peace conferences, 200 international speakers, concerts and exhibitions, and served to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Among the Italian artists latest works is a mural in which he presents the exiled Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, kissing the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez. With this work the artist sent a slightly ironic message in favour of the rapprochement - surprising to many - between the two political figures: "My God, help me to survive this fatal love," was the artist's caption. Outside of Catalonia, TVBoy has also done street art in Ukraine, specifically on the streets of Kyiv, Butxa and Irpin, all very much with an anti-war, pro-peace focus. TVBoy has lived in Barcelona since 2004.