Artist: Pez

 It was 1999 when Pez ("fish" for Spanish) began to make his first steps in Barcelona. The turn of the century would also mean the start of the revolution of Street Art that he would be a key part of. Pez thought that this vivid smiling fish would spread a positive message and good vibes to pedestrians in Barcelona streets. 

 The Pez character came from the artist experimentation and the purpose of creating an inspirational work on his city walls. Happiness and positivism are the driving forces of his art works that always feature a big-teeth smiling fish. Street art that borrows from classic graffiti and pop art. 

 A few years after its inception, the fish (el Pez) would become a symbol of Barcelona city streets, in a time that the Mediterranean city saw an urban art boom as it was never seen before. Street artists flooded walls with colours and turned the city in one of the hottest Street Art spots in the world.

 This lead to Pez to take his art to festivals and galleries over Europe (Paris, Amsterdam, London, Berlin, Viena, Oslo, Moscow), firstly, and eventually America (New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, or his new home Bogotá) and Asia (Tokio, Hong Kong, Dubai). Every day, the universal message of the smile is adopted by more people over the world. 

 Pez's work has been auctioned in the most important auction houses in street art; Blancs-Manteaux, Tajan or Art Curial have sold works by Pez. Documentaries often cite the artist as one of the major names and his art can be seen in films as the acclaimed Banksy documentary movie "Exit Through the Gift Shop". Some street art books that show the artist work are "Ultimate street art", "The art of rebellion", "The mammoth book of Street Art", “Carnet de Rue” by the French artist J.R. or “Graffiti and Street Art (World of Art)". Comissioned works include brand names of the likes of Toyota, Adidas, Reebok and Ecko Ultd.

After more than 20 years, Pez keeps smiling and spreading the Barcelona Happy Style that has became his trademark.