At World Cup in Brazil, street art reveals conflicted feelings

RIO DE JANEIRO On a recent sunny afternoon, Steve Johnson, a tourist from Salt Lake City strolling through Rios colorful Santa Teresa neighborhood, stopped in his tracks and whipped out his camera. Across the street was a fanciful mural featuring the Brazilian soccer team. Players fill a street car, as Neymar hoists the World Cup trophy and Argentinian rival Lionel Messi covers a face filled with tears.

I think its one of the best things Ive seen in all my time here, said Johnson, 48.

Theres plenty to compare it to. On the walls and buildings and in the hearts of many, the World Cup exists in bright bold colors a celebration of a game, a team and a nation. For others, though, its more crude, angry, dark and even vulgar.

Across Brazil, graffiti and street art is a popular, time-honored and unavoidable form of expression. The controversial and costly World Cup tournament has given street artists ample inspiration. While some murals celebrate Brazils passionate love affair with soccer, other buildings are plastered with protest art, often depicting themes of greed and deriding a nations misplaced priorities. In one, a favela child stares at a glistening stadium in the distance. In another, a man in a suit and a soccer player kick around a ball-shaped bag of money.

Others are much more succinct: stenciled lettering denouncing the tournament or hand-scrawled alliterative expletives directed at FIFA.

In a meeting of traditional soccer powerhouses, host nation Brazil will face Germany in a World Cup semifinal. The Brazilians have played the Germans only once before in a World Cup: the 2002 final won by Brazil. Here's a look at Tuesday's matchup. (Tom LeGro/The Washington Post)

I think it has a political attitude, said artist Paulo Ito, whose recent work has cast a skeptical eye on the World Cup. It is a political thinking, in a certain way. Not in all the works; others are more poetic than political.

Ito has done a piece with the tournament mascot, a cartoonish armadillo named Fuleco, standing in front of a stadium and directing a family to scatter. Another features a starving child at a table with only a soccer ball on his plate. The latter went viral on social media sites and drew a lot of attention to the issues that have enraged protesters here in the months and years preceding the Cup.

The response was very emotional, said Ito, 36. When people have emotion, it becomes a subject. Or more.

Not just ... paint on a wall

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At World Cup in Brazil, street art reveals conflicted feelings