Painting Walls: Graffiti, Street Art & Urban Art

This collection delves into the world of painting, specifically within the vibrant contexts of graffiti, street art, and urban art. Explore diverse techniques, from the bold strokes of graffiti artists to the intricate details of muralists. Discover the stories behind iconic pieces and the social impact of urban art. We explore the evolution of these art forms, examining the cultural shifts and technological advancements that have influenced their development. Learn about the materials, tools, and techniques employed by artists, and gain a deeper appreciation for the creativity and skill involved in transforming urban spaces into canvases of expression. This archive offers a captivating journey through the history and impact of painted art in the urban landscape.

Kelsey Brookes in Berlin!

Fine Art Show | Since last Thursday, brilliant and very colorful artworks by artist and former biochemist Kelsey Brookes from San Diego can be seen at Circleculture Gallery in Berlin. Brookes, who is well-known for his raw and energized style presents his latest “Caped Creatures” works, showing half human, half animal creatures mixed with letters, abstract explosions and neon colors… The creatures become a framework from which the figures anatomy is experimented with. Parts of these chimeras are missing, exaggerated or abstracted beyond functional reality in an effort to relate to the viewer their intense character or predicaments. The loosening of the figure as well as the strong and unique interplay with abstract forms and text, increases the sense of awe and wonder found in Brookes’ signature style. (Circleculture Gallery) ...

1st Urban Arts Award Berlin

Berlin’s urban art scene is about to get a vibrant new addition! After recent setbacks, like the disappointing closure of ATM Gallery, there’s finally some uplifting news for street art enthusiasts. At the end of this month, the French art association ARTAQ will host the inaugural Urban Arts Award Festival in Berlin, celebrating groundbreaking talent from around the globe. This prestigious event recognizes 19 exceptional artists chosen from over 320 submissions worldwide, with 4 receiving Special Jury Awards. Their work will be showcased in a traveling exhibition across five major European cities—Angers, Paris, Berlin, Brussels, and Lyon. Berlin’s iconic Stattbad Wedding, a former swimming pool turned creative hub, will be the festival’s central stage. ...

Aykovskiy - Russian Graffiti Art

Graffiti Fine Art | This time it was really hard to decide a heading which makes sense - on the list were for example “Russian Graffiti Drawing”, “Graffiti-inspired Art from Russia”, “Drawn Graffiti Paintings”, and a lot more which is why Russian artist Aykovskiy combines fine drawing, fine painting and nice graffiti skills to very interesting canvas works! Honestly I know nothing about him/ her. I just got an e-mail with these very interesting motives and I thought it would be great to share them with you. Also Google knows nothing about Aykovskiy, except the fact that he/ she is on Flickr…maybe it’s because i can’t read Russian… ...

JonOne 156 Graffiti Exhibition

Graffiti Exhibition | The New York-born graffiti artist John Andrew Perello aka JonOne is one of the most famous writers nowadays. Inspired by classical painters like Kandinsky, Matisse, Pollock and Motherwell his style combines abstract and expressionistic elements with his own graffiti freestyle… Nowadays, JonOne has structured his work from the streets of New York to the “limitations” of canvas (some extremely large) and he now fancy more brushstrokes than air sprays. His extremely colorful paintings remind us of the frenzy of large cities, of their bright lights and social codes. JonOne’s work is an allegory of the Urban Jungle in which most of us live, but always seen from the optimist and colorful side of life. (about JonOne) ...

True Colors - Old Technique, New Style by Quintessenz

I well remember that amazing stop motion film “True Colors” by Tomislav Topic about the power of pure color and creative ideas. In about five minutes, which were recorded in almost four month, he and his crew brought color to life and created in that way an urban art showpiece project. Recently the making-of was published which documented the development process and which proves that there’s indeed no digital fake - everything is handmade! ...

New Boxi Stencils in London

Stencil Art | The Moniker Art Fair is going on and I had some busy last days, visiting all the live paintings by Herakut, Case and Titi-Freak and having fun at the VNA magazine issue party. But what’s more interesting is the fact that during the last days a lot of amazing new street artworks popped up around the Village Underground in London’s creative area Shoreditch! One really impressing is the new stencil artwork by internationally famous artist Boxi. He painted a whole wall in his well-known greyscale style including three of his brilliant multi-layer stencil spray-paintings. A must to see for every stencil art enthusiast in London! ...

Vintage Futurism: Kofie One Exhibition

Exhibition | What I like about Augustine Kofie’s art is rather easy to explain - I like everything! The abstract forms, the colors, the way he creates his artworks, the astonishing details, etc. Recently his upcoming show, entitled “Retrofitted and Other Forms of Vintage Futurism”, at White Walls Gallery in San Francisco was announced. The exhibition will include a series of wood triangle collages, medium-sized assemblages on wood, acrylic paintings and an installation. ...

Word To Mother Exhibition Photos

Exhibition Review | Yesterday, the “Blind By Stardom” exhibition by English born urban artist Word To Mother (By the way a really nice guy!) opened its doors at the Stolen Space Gallery in London. It’s the fourth exhibition by Word To Mother in these rooms and of course I visited the show, which features paintings in mixed media on wood, canvas, found objects and installation pieces and was highly impressed by his fantastic technique and the more or less hidden joke in his artworks [*]! ...

El Mac - New York Paintings

“The Humble and Sublime” is the name of a nice video, documenting the creation of a new painting for the the upcoming solo-show by famous graffiti artist El Mac in New York. Mac, who visited Berlin earlier this year for a live-painting together with Augustine Kofie, will present some astonishing acrylic paintings in his well-known rendering style. Born in Los Angeles in 1980 to an engineer and an artist, Mac has been creating and studying art independently since childhood. Raised primarily in Phoenix, he drew inspiration from the surrounding Mexican & Chicano culture of the American Southwest, religious art, pin-up art, graffiti, and a wide range of classic artists such as Caravaggio, Mucha, and Vermeer. (about El Mac) ...

Stroke.03 - Urban Art Fair

For some of you it’s just another way of street art commercialization, but with round about 25 participating galleries and art collectives, Stroke.03 is the biggest urban art fair in Germany and will this year take place for four days in Berlin. Including eleven indoor live-paintings by well-known urban artists like Morten Andersen, FinDAC, Herr von Bias, SP38, and nine outdoor mural live-paintings by Roa, Alexandros Vasmoulakis, Faith47, and others in the streets of Berlin, the third issue of Stroke will dominate the German capital’s urban art life during October 7th and 10th, 2010! The main part of Stroke.03, the art fair, will take place in the former train-station Gleisdreieck, in the heart of Berlin. ...