Explore Vibrant European Urban Art Scenes

I’m pretty sure you already heard about the new installation famous German urban art duo Herakut recently created in Newcastle, but have you also watched the nice interview they did with OneThirty3? Invited by famous UK-based artist Hush, Hera and Akut painted an entire room in not more than three and a half day. The clue, the room has been open for the public just for one evening earlier this month! ...

Out of Sight - Urban Art / Abandoned Spaces, which was published just this month, is the book you want to have if you’re an urban explorer and urban art enthusiast in equal measure! The book features those artists who appreciate the privacy of and feeling in abandoned spaces and presents in that way mind-blowing urban artworks in decayed factories, abandoned warehouses and industrial sites! Not all art craves attention, some of it hides in secret places. Some of it is buried treasure, out in the urban wilderness, left scattered in empty rooms of derelict buildings like strange markings left by an unknown tribe… ...

Sticker Art | The third round of the “Oversized & Underpriced” sticker art show started last Friday with a big opening party at Superplan Gallery in Berlin! Again, the world’s greatest sticker-museum Hatch Kingdom shows about 40 large-scale stickers (this time US postal stickers!) customized by some well-known urban artists from around the world, including Base23, Herr von Bias, Emess, Aro One, Flying Förtress and many more! Again, a part of the benefit will be donated to the “Skateistan” project by two Australian, who run a skateboarding school in Afghanistan! For sure I joined the big meet and greet and took some shots - luckily before everything was totally overcrowded… ...

Urban Light Art | Yeah I know, the results when art meets technology are often strange, but sometimes also groundbreaking and interesting. Timo Arnall, Jørn Knutsen and Einar Sneve Martinussen recently showed that the Graffiti Research Lab is not the only agency which combines urban arts with technology by developing a four meters tall light art tool which makes WiFi visible! This project explores the invisible terrain of WiFi networks in urban spaces by light painting signal strength in long-exposure photographs. A four-meters long measuring rod with 80 points of light reveals cross-sections through WiFi networks using a photographic technique called light-painting. (About the project) ...

Graffiti Fine Art | I have to say that I somehow like these new artworks by graffiti legend Sozyone, he presents at Alice BXL Gallery in Brussels since yesterday. After his participation at the “Turmkunst” event in Berlin in 2010, I heard nothing new of him…until now! Three years have passed since Sozyone’s last exhibition at the gallery. Today, he lives in Spain and travels around Europe with a rhythm of 2 solo shows per year and as many group shows. “VOYOV” proclaims the return of the prodigal son in his home town, bringing a new series of works on canvas and paper. (mtn-world.com) ...

Urban Art Books | Because it’s almost Christmas, I had the idea to give you a small list of books, I recommend as a Christmas present. The following three books are in my opinion the top urban art books of 2010 and for that reason I’m pretty sure, the presentee will be also happy with them. Here we go… Art of Rebellion 3 - The book about street art For me, it’s worth having all the three “Art of Rebellion” books by Christian Hundertmark aka C100. The latest one was published in November by Publikat and includes photos of urban artwork by the most famous street and graffiti artists around the globe. For more info, read the small review I already wrote about this book! It’s possible to grab it for about 30 Euro on Amazon. ISBN: 978-3939566298 ...

As you maybe know, Portuguese artist Pedro Matos opened his solo-exhibition called “Reality Show” four days ago in Lisbon. Today he sent in some first photos from the opening evening at Montana Shop & Gallery… In my eyes, Pedro’s style is really mad! I love these dirty backgrounds and the highly detailed portraits in the foreground. It’s a very special combination of quick spray-painting and marker techniques on the one hand and traditional oil and acrylic painting techniques on the other hand. ...