Oscar Melgar and Jesús Javier Jaime

Oscar Melgar and Jesús Javier Jaime

Buses are an essential part of life in Liverpool, a city with one of the lowest rates of car ownership in the UK. But while they may be vital to the city, they are not often seen as possible venues for art. In Panama, though, things are very different: buses are completely covered with airbrush paintings, making them literally mobile works of art. Drivers pay bus painters to decorate their vehicles with landscapes, girls’ names, Catholic icons and sports stars; competition for the best decorated bus is fierce among both drivers and painters. For the duration of International 06, a splash of Panamanian colour will be livening up Liverpool’s streets as buses are transformed by two of Panama’s leading bus painters, who will use their own inimitable style to depict Liverpool people’s icons, heroes and fantasies.

Oscar Melgar was born in Panama City in 1968. At the age of 14 he began to work as an apprentice with Andres Salazar, one of the fathers of the art of bus painting. In 1984 he obtained a degree in Visual Arts from the Ganexa Institute of Fine Arts in Panama City. While studying, he faced criticism from faculty and peers that pointed to him as merely a bus painter and not a ‘real artist’. In a local art competition in which he placed second, one of the jurors said that had it not been for his involvement with bus painting, he would have won first prize. Despite this dilemma, Melgar decided to continue painting and decorating buses. Today he is one of the most important artists in the field. He is responsible for the decoration on 80 per cent of the buses circulating in Panama City.

Jesús Javier Jaime was born in Panama City in 1968. He obtained a degree in automotive mechanics in 1980. In 1988 he completed his studies in graphic design at the Ganexa Institute of Fine Arts in Panama City. He began painting and decorating buses with artist-friend Oscar Melgar in 1989. Through the years, he has been involved with several jobs from different fields. Bus painting is the only task that has remained constant in his life.