Love Graffiti Art

What is Graffiti Art?

Graffiti is a form of visual communication that involves the unauthorized marking of public space by an individual or group.  It can be understood as antisocial behavior performed in order to gain attention or as a form of thrill-seeking, but it also can be understood as an expressive art form.  However, graffiti art as a term refers to images or text painted usually onto buildings, typically using spray paint. Graffiti has its origins in 1970s New York, when young people began to use spray paint and other materials to create images on buildings and on the sides of subway trains.  Such graffiti can range from bright graphic images (wild style) to the stylized monogram (tag).

Love Public Access to Graffiti Street Art

The picture below of Snoop Dog was on the wall of a building on the famous Hosier Lane Alleyway in Melbourne, Australia. Despite its fine art semblance, it is not a commissioned piece of artwork. Therefore, it is properly classified as graffiti or street art. Also, despite its true art appeal, because it was done in a public building it was subject to an altercation that occurred less than two weeks after it was painted. We visited the site and took these two amazing pictures. It made a real impression on us, and began our passion to explore the world of grafitti art.

How is Graffiti Different from Street Art and Murals?

While both graffiti and street art are forms of street art, the main difference between the two lies in their purpose and legality.  Graffiti is often created without permission and can be considered illegal, while murals are typically commissioned and are legal.  

Street art tends to be image-based, whereas graffiti is more commonly word-based. Street art is a visual art. It is often found in the form of a painted image. And is categorized by being independent art that’s created legally (usually) and found in a public space. 

Also, murals (large paintings) you see on the sides of buildings or in public spaces are also considered street art. They are often commissioned by the building’s owners.

Who are the Most Famous Street Artists?

Banksy is one of the most famous street artists in the world.  Altogether, he has been creating works of art all over the world for more than 23 years.  However, there are many other famous street artists such as Cornbread, Daze, Dondi White, Blade, Seen, Iz the Wiz, Stephen ESPO Powers, Revok and Twist/Barry McGee.

Banksy is an anonymous England-based Street artist. Basically, he is a political activist and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Although a lot of his art is produced in public places, he usually only reveals it after it has appeared on his social media.  Most of his art is done in a particular style which people can easily recognize. See his famous Hammer Boy below.

Love Graffiti Art? Where is the best place to find it?

There are many places around the world where you can find quality street art.  Some of the best street art cities include New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Montreal, London, Melbourne, and San Francisco. We have done our best to give you a sampling from many of these places.

Street Art in New York City

If you love graffiti art, then we suggest you visit New York City. New York City is one of the best street art cities in the world. You can find pockets of it in Astoria Queens, Bushwick Brooklyn and the lower East Side and other parts of Manhattan.

Manhattan

Here is a selection of what we could capture in Manhattan. More to come.

Since, true graffiti art is often painted in the off hours, it can be a challenge to paint quality graffiti art in the city that never sleeps. Nevertheless, there are plenty of places in NYC to find quality graffiti art in the city where it all started. Here is a brief list:

• 1. Freeman Alley Outside of the American colonial style tavern and tucked away in the Lower East Side.
• 2. Graffiti Hall of Fame Located in Harlem, this mainstay is a longtime hub where well-known street artists show their stuff.
• 3. Rag & Bone (73 E Houston Street).
• 4. Banksy’s Hammer Boy (233 W 79th Street on the wall of the DSW Building – see picture below).
• 5. Coney Art Walls (3050 Stillwell Ave., Brooklyn, NY).
• 6. First Street Green Art Park (33 E 1st Street)
• 7. Bushwick, Brooklyn – Largest Graffiti Area in NYC

Brooklyn

If you truly love Graffiti Art, or are just curious to learn more about it when you are in NYC, then we highly recommend that you take a trip to Bushwick, Brooklyn (it is safe). There you can take in some really high-quality street art. Bushwick has the largest collection of street art in NYC. We took a tour with a company called Graff Tours, located at 282 Meserole Street in Brooklyn. We had a great tour guide and we truly loved learning about graffiti art. You can find them on Trip Advisor. We booked them through Get Your Guide.

Here are two other pieces of interesting street art that we found in Brooklyn. One was just sitting on the roof of a building and the other was inside a skate board rink.

Love Graffiti Art in Australian: Melbourne is Best

We fell in love with graffiti art when we first encountered it in Melbourne, Australia early in 2023. We first saw it on a “Laneway Tour” that we took once again through “Get Your Guide.”

Robin and I have had great success finding small private tours through “Get your Guide” and this was one the best ever. Laneways are old alley ways in Melbourne. The city decided that if they invested in the Laneways, they could get more people to move back and live in the city. That strategy worked as the created some great street art and also some great restaurant and shopping areas.

Hosier Lane

Hosier Lane in Melbourne is perhaps the best place to see street art in the whole world. It certainly got our attention and started our love affair with graffiti art. In addition to the Snoop Dog work, shown above, here are some of our other favorite pieces on Hosier Lane. For more information and pictures from our trip to Australia, please visit our Australia Post.

Also, Love Graffiti Art in Sydney, Australia

Love Graffiti Art – Other Cities

Once we started to better appreciate and love graffiti art, we started to look for it where ever we went. Here are some of the other places where we found it. We will be expanding this post.

Williamsburg, Virginia, USA

An amazing mural in a small city, located across from the local pizza restaurant and liquor store. We went to the liquor store. Visit our Mid-Atlantic Post to see more about Williamsburg.

Wynwood in Miami, Florida

On a recent road trip to Key West, Florida ( January 2024) we stayed our last night in the Miami Wynwood District. What a pleasant stay. We found some incrediible street art.

Unfortunately, we had to leave early in the morning, and we didn’t get into see the Wynwood Walls, the heart of the Art District. But, here is a glimpse that we were able to see from the road.

Better yet, here are just a few of the thousands of beautiful artworks on the buildings in the Wynwood community. We drove around for an hour, but we hardly scratched the surface. We will be back. If you love graffiti art, you willl want to visit the Wynwood Art District.

Jacksonville, Florida, USA

Jacksonville, Florida is not a place you would think of as an art mecca. Nevertheless, the city has championed street art as a way to further develop its downtown area. Here are a few of the pictures that we found interesting:

International

In addition to Melbourne and Sydney, we have found some similarly great street art in other international cities.

Willemstad, Curaçao

Curaçao is well known for its colorful buildings. So, why shouldn’t it also be known for its street art. Unlike, graffiti in some other cities, this is really professional work.

Prague, Czech Republic

We visited Prague in October 2023 and found it to be a wonderful place to find some high-quality Street Art. Please visit our How Many Days Prague Post, to learn more about the street art and the other great sights in Prague. Learn about the famous John Lennon Wall. Here is some of our favorite street art that we saw during our visit to Prague.

Budapest, Hungary

The Street Art in Budapest has been going through some transitions. Like most cities, the origins of the street art go back to the graffiti days, when signatures were the thing. However today it is much more focused on stickers, political statements and recently large scale commercial murals. Here are some examples of each kind that we found on a Get Your Guide Tour through Budapest. Please see our Budapest, Hungary Post for more about Street Art.

Here is one of the original street art pieces compared to what has evolved; an ad for Converse Sneakers.

However, a good amount of the art is making a statement. In one case it is “1312”, which apparently translates to “All Cops are Bad”. In the second case it is trying to right a bad slogan in town about the rivalry between Buda and Pest. The fish on the right is part of a sticker campaign to be able to get your symbol up in the most places around the town. The fish did pretty well, as we saw him quite often.

Conversely, some of the graffiti is just good art.

Political statements were popular, usually supporting the war against Ukraine. In the last picture the artist is questioning the Prime Minister’s “tie” to Putin.

Phuket, Thailand

Unexpectedly, we found a number of quality pieces of street art on the buildings in the central city in Phuket, Thailand. Lobster hanging on the side of the building was our favorite.