Book

Description

The piece that Dr. Pablo Ángel Lugo presents us here is not only a revision of the evolution of the urban landscape throughout the history, from its early beginnings to modern times, but it reflects upon the way in which street art adds to the complex symbolic thread that composes it. Starting with Roman times to much more contemporary shapes of the urban configuration, Dr. Lugo constantly connects visual depictions of the urban landscape with the way in which artists have used and interpreted those changes. This analysis shows how the city, as it grew in shape and form, became a complex weave of symbols and meanings granted to every city through a very close dialogue between their histories and the individuals the inhabit them with the artistic expressions, mostly the visual, as it is the main focus of Dr. Lugo’s work. This analysis comes to add interesting data on different topics, such as the semantics of the cities, claiming of the space, the effect of history on the shape itself of cities, amongst others.
Furthermore, Dr. Lugo understands the city as an unavoidably political space where individuals actively participate on public matters, often using street art, namely but not limited to graffiti, to express their points of view. Dr. Diego R. Sosa