People have been putting their creativity on walls for thousands of years – the oldest known cave paintings date back 40,000 years. Today, these primitive engravings have become a global street art phenomenon.
This art form, which adorns urban areas around the world, is often deeply intertwined with the culture and history of a place and offers an impressive way to explore a destination. Here are eight amazing cities straight from our new pages. Street art The book where you can see the best of these metropolitan masterpieces.
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Berlin, Germany
Berlin is a rich center of street art. After reunification, an abundance of large, empty buildings, a relatively cheap cost of living, and a thriving counterculture combined to create a city of artists and musicians flocking to it. Berlin rose to prominence during the early street art boom and became a must-visit place for artists – now ironically known as “the most bombed city in the world”. But this time, with spray-bombing, pastes, and stickers, as well as alternative media such as Lego (as seen in Jan Vormann’s colorful creations) and even yarn.
During the Cold War era, the Berlin Wall was a symbolic target of politically motivated art, but only the west side was covered in graffiti – impossible for residents on the east side to get close enough. A section of the original wall filled with modern graffiti can also be seen on Mühlenstrasse.
New York, USA
As the birthplace of modern graffiti, it’s no surprise that New York and its artists have played a major role in the global development of street art. Even though commissioned murals are becoming more and more common, the New York scene remains in limbo. Each area has a distinct atmosphere, although sometimes separated by a few blocks.
Visitors should head to Williamsburg and Bushwick, Brooklyn, home to some of the city’s best-known artists, as well as the Lower East Side, SoHo, NoLita, and Harlem. Away from the streets, the new lobby of One World Trade Center is home to a 27-foot wall by Brooklyn-based artist José Parlá, who has successfully blurred the line between street and gallery.
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Before experiencing São Paulo’s street art scene for the first time, it’s worth learning about the history behind the onslaught of visual signage that adorns every surface in this vast urban metropolis. Picação (spelled ‘Tar’) began as political graffiti during the Brazilian dictatorship, with a distinctive calligraphic font inspired by the heavy metal album covers that dominated São Paulo airwaves in the 1980s. But today, ‘Mostly the tagging deals with success measured in volume and height – the latter achieved through modified fire extinguishers, cylinder extensions and free-climbing with life death.
London, United Kingdom
From the late 90s to the mid-2000s, London was focused on the booming street art scene, in the back streets, alternative galleries, and underground pools of the post-industrial East End. This trend peaked in 2008 when Tate Modern held a ground-breaking street art exhibition on the banks of the Thames and Banksy pioneered the “Festival of Boxes” in the Leake Street tunnel, which is still a graffiti hotspot today.
The scene is centered on the East End, particularly trendy Shoreditch and neighboring areas of Brick Lane and Hackney. Painted and plastered walls were cobbled and Michelin-starred streets lined with members’ clubs. restaurants and luxury boutiques.
Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne is arguably the cultural (and cross-cultural!) capital of Australia and is regularly ranked as one of the most liveable cities in the world. One of the reasons for its distinction can be traced to its streets. Thanks to the vision of its founders, the city center boast a uniquely buoyant combination of wide, sweeping streets and distinctive bluestone-paved lanes. A safe, clean, vibrant metropolis is full of residents who love to meet, eat, drink, and create.
Although graffiti is still technically illegal in the city, the public and private response to the street art has been generally positive – when Banksy first drew it here, the council even (unsuccessfully) tried to preserve his work behind the perspex panels. Today, Melbourne residents tend to embrace the ephemeral nature of public art, although work is underway in the city to restore a rare Keith Haring mural.
Lisbon, Portugal
The first half of the 20th century repressed Portugal with a right-wing dictatorship, but the 1974 revolution led to an explosion of politically motivated public art. When this trend faded in the early 90s, the arrival of traditional graffiti artists had taken over the mantle of their ancestors. In recent years, the city council of Lisbon has actively supported street artists and the emergence of organized efforts such as “Underdogs” and the CRONO Project, and the emergence of domestic artists such as Vhils. Its appearance has received a list of international names of high Profile. in town. Today, Lisbon is one of the best places in the world to experience street art in all its forms.
Many of the city’s street art gems are home to landmarks in and around the Bairro Alto district, along the river to the south, as well as a series of legal walls that run along Calçada da Glória.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
As America’s fourth most populous city, Buenos Aires shares a very active and contemporary street art scene with its office cousins. Europe’s impressive architecture provides a great backdrop for street art reminiscent of cities such as Valencia, Barcelona, and Lisbon. But unlike those cities, you don’t need to get permission from local governments to create new murals in Buenos Aires – you just need permission from the property owner. This legal and logistical freedom has led to an active and innovative street art scene, rooted in the city’s historical legacy of stereotypical political protest.
Street art flourishes all over the city, but particularly notable areas are Coghlan and Villa, Urquiza. Here, an abandoned plan for a new highway led to the demolition of many buildings and the creation of giant murals, including those by renowned local artist Martin Rohn.
Los Angeles, USA
Famous for the calligraphic ‘cello’ style of graffiti that evolved from Latino gang graffiti, Los Angeles’ street art scene developed noticeably different from other places in North America, helping artists sometimes take days to paint a piece. Thanks to the huge spread of the city.
Los Angeles has a typical throwback attitude, with many artists breaking down the typical boundaries of the transition between traditional graffiti and street art. More importantly, Retna, a member of MSK’s famous crew with names like Saber, Revok, and Risk, can now be found on the doorstep just like on the streets of a Justin Bieber album or a Louis Vuitton store. Developed from a combination of Gothic, Egyptian, Hebrew, and Arabic lines, its unique script can be seen in many high-profile locations in the city.