Ironic, scathing, irreverent, and very graphic, the Venezuelan Alejandro Medina, A.K.A Okso Vacuno raises a hand in protest to paradigms established by society through the use of characters like the blue cow “Cleta.”
This urban artist considers graffiti, in principle, an alternative way of presenting his creations to the public. According to him, graffiti always begins as a taking of space, because where he is from it is very difficult to access traditional art spaces. Therefore, scouting out unused spaces in order to express his ideas through art became a way forward. In fact, at some point and with other artists from the Caracas cultural scene, he decided to set up a galleries in abandoned houses around the city. This taking back of spaces and ruins in order to turn them into a sort of urban gallery is something Okso is passionate about.
Around this time, a curious blue cow began inhabiting the walls of his native city Maracaibo: a news reporter cow, a cow with an astonished expression enclosed in a brick wall; another cow representing a worker from an old bingo parlor; another one in the form of ice cream melting from the heat of the city. Such is the nature of the unconventional graffiti Okso creates in many places around his city.
The artist explained that the idea was born with the “mad cow crisis” and from there he began to humanize animals in order to address what he calls “social cannibalism” and “human consumerism.”
Okso continuously comes up with new ideas for his character Cleta. Check them out on his Instagram account here: https://www.instagram.com/okso.1/