Pop art and antique architecture

Buenos aires has this thriving culture of artists and musicians. You can tell its been this way for decades. Its not like other places that go through cycles of revival and hibernation. Here in the city impressive pop images are painted on the side of stone cut walls and rot iron balconies.

The pollution of simple `one tone´ tags are the minority among the stencles, wheat pastings and muruals. The streets contain the kind of graffiti you actually enjoy looking at. Its a breath of fresh air actually. The problem that ocurrs in most places once street art becomes popular is that any loser can grab a spray paint can and twirl their name. Usually covering someone elses well done wall peice. It seems though that Buenos Aires is consistantly producing more enjoyable muruals.

Antique shops are spilling chaotically from all the hidden corners with chandaliers and phonographs. In in one we found a 1970s fender jazz bass and a gibson SG rotting between embossed velvet chairs and limbless babydolls. Seems like the people here don't know what they've got. The other day we roamed through the San Telmo sunday market. There were musicians everywhere, tango dancers giving demonstrations, vendors selling antique lace, pins and bottles, and one man selling empanadas the size of

my head. The refined 1920s stye of buenos aires is alive and thriving. And at the same time fusion groups play music all over the town. Street preformers stand in the pedestrian walkways every day with their painted bodies and tin cans.

`Fusion´ I think that may be the best word to describe Buenos Aires.

It is like an elegant cartoon.