ção members spray painting choque cultural gallery (photo via choque photos)

choque cultural gallery is located in são paulo, brazil, it specializes in promoting new art forms and has displayed work by graffiti artists, tattoo artists, graphic designers and illustrators since 2004.

on september 6th, 2008 choque was showing a collection of paintings by well-known street artists gerald laing, speto and titi freak among others, when a group of 30 individuals stormed into the gallery brandishing spray cans. the group ‘tagged’ the entire gallery, defacing the artwork hanging on the walls. they soon fled the gallery, leaving over ,000 to 10,000 (USD) worth of damage behind. the individuals were all members of a graffiti art movement known as ‘pixação’, (translates as ‘trace’ or ‘stain’ in english) is a style of tagging unique to são paulo. the incident left many wondering why this had happened and why these people had deliberately destroyed the work of fellow street artists. the organizer of the pixação attack stated in a message to other members, that the intention of the act was to protest against the ‘marketing, institutionalization and domestication of street art’.

pixação movement pixação members spray painting choque cultural gallery (photo via choque photos)