--- author: Jan Brennenstuhl categories: - Urban Art Recap cover: alt: Top Urban Artists 2010 height: 840 src: https://www.urbanartcore.com/top-urban-artists-2010/dran-painting.jpg width: 1880 credit: '' date: '2010-12-31T13:23:38Z' description: The end of a year is always a time to look back and to review what happened in the last twelve months. I decided to list my 2010 top urban artists to feature them for the next year... tags: - Blu - Roa - Aryz - Pedro Matos - El Mac - Dran title: Top Urban Artists 2010 url: https://www.urbanartcore.com/top-urban-artists-2010/ --- # Top Urban Artists 2010 *Street Art Review* | It’s the last day of the year and for that reason it’s possible to create a lot of different top lists like [“Top Urban Art Books 2010”](/top-urban-art-books-2010/), “Best Urban Art Photos 2010” or this one: “Top Urban Artists 2010”. For sure, it’s difficult to do that, because of the massive count of highly talented urban artists around the globe and of course it’s always my subjective opinion, but it’s also true that I saw, met and recognized some really good artists in the last 12 months, I want to feature in this post. Those of you who totally disagree with my opinion could also check [“The Top 25 Artists of 2010”](http://www.complex.com/art-design/2010/12/the-top25-artists-of-2010//) on complex.com or the [“2010 Most Popular”](http://unurth.com/869907/2010-Most-Popular) posts on unurth.com. Here are my top urban artists of 2010: ## JR Yes, French photographer and large-scale paste-up artist **JR** did it this year. He not just [traveled the whole globe](/jr-china-wrinkles-shanghai/) pasting a lot of fantastic stuff, but also won [the 2011 TED Prize](http://blog.ted.com/2010/10/19/announcing-the-2011-ted-prize-winner-jr/). Because his brilliant “Women are Heroes” series connects urban art and political statements in a outstanding way I hope he will go on next year with the same power! ![jr poster]() jr poster ## Dran DMV The French **Da Mental Vaporz** (DMV) graffiti crew had a fantastic run this year. I caught up with some of them at this year’s [Meeting of Styles in London](/london-graffiti-styles-photos/). I was highly impressed by the skills especially of **Dran**, who is also featured in Tristan Manco’s [“Street Sketchbook: Journeys”](/street-sketchbook/) and hope that they will visit Berlin in 2011. ![meeting of styles - Dran]() meeting of styles - Dran ## Blu Of course, **Blu** is part of this urban artist top list! Again [Europe’s famous mural artist](/blu-murals-europe/) painted several amazing large-scale artworks on walls around the world. Although there has been [some trouble about the latest work](/urban-art-censorship/) he did in Los Angeles I’m pretty sure he will never stop. Hopefully I have the chance to catch up with him next year somewhere in Europe... ![urban art by blu]() urban art by blu ## Aryz Spanish graffiti and street artist **Aryz** is well-know for his dreamy and sometimes crazy characters. In the last months more and more people recognized [his brilliant styl](/smash-137-aryz-in-barcelona/)e and [featured him](/concrete-wall-by-aryz/) in different ways. For that reason it’s a must to have him also in this list! ![aryz mural]() aryz mural ## Pedro Matos Portuguese urban artist **Pedro Matos** became really popular in Europe through [his solo-exhibition “Reality Show”](/pedro-matos-urban-reality-show/). His fantastic fine artworks are street influenced and combine in that way rough rough and dirty aerosol paintings and fine, detailed oil and acrylic paintings. I’m sure you will hear a lot more about him in 2011! ![pedro matos artwork]() pedro matos artwork ## Roa Yeah, I know I don’t have to write something about Belgian urban artist **Roa** - Everyone knows him and his detailed, grayscale spray-paintings of animals. Some say, he is [probably one of the current most famous graffiti artists](/roa-graffiti-action/) in Europe... ![roa animal graffiti]() roa animal graffiti ## The Mac Also Los Angeles-based graffiti artist El Mac traveled around the world in 2010, visiting for example [Berlin](http://www.urbanart-photography.eu/portfolio/the-mac-graffiti-berlin/) and [New York](/el-mac-new-york-paintings/). Because of his very unique style and the unusual technique (he uses icecold cans), he is able to create fantastic large-scale graffiti portaits. Hope to see him in Berlin again in 2011! ![the mac graffiti]() the mac graffiti That’s it. Right, I could go on and on, presenting other top urban artists, but I have to cut here. If you think, I have to mention another artist (street art or graffiti doesn’t matter), use the comment area to write down some words about your favourite artist of 2010. Happy new year!