Eye Catching Street Art From Six Populated Continents
Street art and graffiti are a world culture that show more what we have in common than what our differences are. Enjoy these photos of street art worldwide.
This photo of an Atlanta, Georgia tunnel is by Brian T. Murphy. This is Murphy’s personal website, or peruse his gorgeous images on Flickr.
Paper street art from Houston, Texas by Flickr photographer EDgAr H.
This photo courtesy of Axel Goyeneche of K.E.L.P. who says of the image and his work and website: All the pictures at the KELP Flickr account are walls I painted (alone or with friends). By the way www.kelp.cl is a webportal, the most visited worldwide “about graffiti meets design,” and all the K.E.L.P walls can be seen here.
There are hidden messages in this politically loaded piece from Olympia, Washington. You can pop over to dreamsjung on Flickr to see how many you identified.
Photo by Matt Kowalczyk AKA Nomadic Entrepreneur on Flickr who credits the artist of this piece seen in Leblon, Rio as Gemeos.
The ubiquitous Maradona – a portrait of the player in his glory days before he came into his more contemporary look as he clings to youth through a series of progressively more obvious plastic surgeries that make you wonder if he has to inflate his face in the morning when he shaves. Photo from Buenos Aires by Diego_3336.
Photo from Morocco by Ryan Ritchie who says, “It was the first thing that caught my eye upon arriving in Essouaria.” Check out his Flickr Page where he goes by ryantron..
Photo (and feature photo) of a Kansas City wall by aeionic who says: Graffiti artwork, like most street art is often illegal and therefore the better works are often executed off the beaten track where they can be created with less time contraints and less risk of arrest. The artists are also reclusive and worried about prosecution, so a little footwork is often necessary to locate the better works.
This female artist, Femme9, often creates faces and collaborates with others such as Motor in this photo. One enjoyable aspect of street art is the sheer exuberance of discovering young counterculture artists. Combined with an enduro motorcycle and a digital camera, one can cover a lot of alleyways, abandonments, and railroad tracks. Ahhhh, freedom!
Photo by Michael Hughes from Walsall, England. View the original photo and more on his Flickr page where he’s known as micheal.jh.
As seen in San Francisco, this piece of street art knows no true location. Photo by Franco Folini.
A mixture of iconic imagery and bright colors make this wall of stencils pop and provoke the imagination in Tokyo. Photo by antjeverana
Walls from Wroclaw, Poland by mr. zero. Visit mr. zero on MySpace.
Sweet romance and a bike in San Francisco. Photo by Salim Virji.
A face repeated with photographic fidelity in St.Margrethen, Switzerland. Photo by Kecko.
Street Art São Paolo, Photo by journalist Adriana Paiva who credits the artist as osgemeos. You can check out Paiva’s website here, or click here for a look at her Flickr photo stream.
This tunnel from Sydney University won’t let the eyes rest. Photo by Str1ke.
Cute little doggie from Tokyo. Photo by yeowatzup.
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29 Comments... join the discussion!
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The Dalai Lama (and yes, I had to click over to Flickr to see all the political references) and the back of the truck ones were my favorites – the truck one partly because it fits so nicely in it’s location that it feels you are looking down the street.
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buenos aires has some of the very best street art that i’ve seen around. everything from che and political themes to anime to tango-themed to bizarre dada-style. there is some pretty amazing stuff.
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You are too right. I am always kicking myself for not having a camera with me. Planning on taking as many as I can in January. If you have any specific locations to recommend, I’m all ears.
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Hey Kate,
If you want to see more street art and graffiti then I would love to invite you to come along on my tour! It’s called graffitimundo and we spend an afternoon with an artist, walking around some amazing spots. And finish by having a beer and a chat!
Send me a mail if you’d like to come along.
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all of them look beautiful, except for the first and 2nd last picture.
The first and 2nd last picture is the type of graffiti which has no talent and is an eyesore to the city and the world. I just don’t understand why tagging in big block letters has appealed so much. No surprises that the 2nd last photo is also from where I live. Sigh.
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I absolutely LOVE the guy with the fish, but they’re all stunning. Street art is fantastic and creative … thanks for sharing.
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Damn. Loved this one. One of my fav things to do in the city is walk around and twitpic cool graf I see. Thanks for bringing the global aerosol love to Nights!
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These are incredible, Kate.
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Thanks, guys! Flickr is a miracle. Man. Just run a search for anything and you will find it in spades!
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Great finds, Kate. Props to the artists, the photographers, and the editor.
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Nice pics, maybe next time you could include Mumbai’s Wall Project graffiti?
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OK, scratch my above comment about finding anything at all in Flickr because I can’t find that!
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Try this link:
http://www.thewallproject.com/
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These are great! I’m a huge fan of street art, no matter where it is and was excited to see these examples! I loved the last little dog – so sweet!
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Really good stuff! I too like the Dalai Lama and the back of the truck ones best.
I’ve just reviewed a book about graffiti on the walls of Gaza (Gaza Graffiti: Messages of Love and Politics, by Mia Grondahl), and thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested in the intersection between street art and activism/resistance. The striking thing about the book is how beautiful the messages of defiance are. Fun fact: apparently, Hamas runs its own graffiti school!
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Thanks, guys. And Nick – how interesting! Send us a link to your article.
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It’s pretty basic stuff I’m afraid ; ) If you are wondering about the strange layout, it’s because it’s a mobile Internet site displayed on the web. http://beta.icroc.com/news_items/199
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Beautiful photo spread Kate. #2 definitely reeled me in.
L
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Sweet collection Kate! Melbourne is chock-a-block with brilliant street art. I only have a month left to go capture some of it! Hmm…maybe a weekend project is in order.
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I love this! That’s one of my favorite things about walking around cities–seeing the street art. I think it lends such character to a place. And you always find it in unexpected places. Nice job capturing such great images (and kudos to the artists and photogs as well; talk about talent!).
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Thanks again for all of the support. Y’all are making me feel like a real Flickr curator!
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Great collection, thanks for putting it together.
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I love these! When i travel I collect picts of murals and graffitti.
Esp since growing up, we were told that only we American urbans deface property this way. I figured there was no graffitti in other countries.
I’ve long been a fan (dare I say) of graffitti. I’ve always seen it as art – although I sympathize withhome and biz owners who resent having no say in their property being used as canvas.
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KELP pic is in Valparaiso, Chile. Best city for street art in abundance.
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Love the art! Thanks for assembling this.
I was in Bogota, Colombia recently and was surprised at the number of graffiti murals there. And how high the quality was. Much of the biggest and best pieces were on the city’s thruways so it was hard to get pictures, but here’s a shot of something I came across.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34181233@N06/4176644005/in/set-72157622981605462
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cool- i think i saw that chile piece when i was there last year– definitely recognizable.
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QUALITY I really like this blog, now im not 1 for adding links in my replies but I feel this is a great exception, I read a blog like this on http://www.graffiti-art-murals.co.uk by a graffiti artist called Banksy & another great bunch of graffiti artists called the Graffiti Kings.
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I’m surprised no-one’s posted about Berlin. Street art can be found in both amateur and professional spheres, all over the city. And the East Side Gallery (art painted on remnants of the wall) brings together street art and commissioned artists.
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