Did you know I’ve shared over 1000 photos of street art and graffiti from around the world on Flickr?. I have. For those of you keeping track, that doesn’t include the 1100+ photos I have up from Boston.
Anyway, I decided to go through the archives for fun and to clean up some of the titles and thought it would be cool to share the best of the best with you.
This is a big post. I hope you don’t mind.
As a note, I’m not a photographer in the sense that my goal is to take good photographs. My goal is to document as much of this stuff as I can. That means I occasionally just wave a camera in the direction of a tag and hope that it ends up in frame. I photograph this stuff in addition to my normal vacation activities (art, food, drinking wine, people watching, speaking terrible Italian, walking until my feet fall off,) so I sometimes have to rush through a shot. I’m just happy to be able to capture as much of this as I can before it disappears.
San Francisco 2000
At least I think it was. It might have been 2001. I’m not sure. Anyway, here are a couple of actual print photos from San Francisco. These are a couple of gems, I think.
MQ DMS MSK in Chinatown
This is a great spot by a legendary vandal. More MQ
SABER MSK Rooftop Roller. Market Street, San Francisco
I’m really pleased to have captured this. I actually found the building recently and saw that it’s since been buffed. More Saber.
New York 2000-2013
I go to New York a lot. Unfortunately for my photo collection I’ve spent most of my time recently in Midtown and/or downtown near Wall Street, so I’m missing out on the heaviest graffiti areas. Still, I’ve found some good things over the years.
REVS
It depends on the day, but sometimes I think Revs might be the greatest writer of all time. Here are two rollers with esteemed company (Diva, Peek and Amaze) and a great metal sculpture (again captured on film.)
MISS17
I’ve photographed 17 all over the world. She’s put in a lot of work. Also, YES2.
JAONE
You can barely take pictures of graffiti in New York without shooting something JA has written on. It’s also often to see JA written over or writing over someone. He’s got a lot of beef.
Here’s an article about JA from Rolling Stone circa 1995.
Mad Society Kings
This is a high profile spot just north of NYC. It’s such a nice spot I’ve photographed it twice.
On the Train Out of Town
This is actually in Connecticut, I think. I sometimes think of the Acela as just a big extension of NYC, so it’s in this section. This is HUGE.
Florence
Yeah, I didn’t expect to catch this guy in Florence. But yet, I did. GHOST, Rocking it, Suckers. I also caught a VAULT tag. More GHOST
Rome 2006-2012
I got to Rome whenever I can and love it more than any city other than Boston. There’s also a lot of graffiti there.
C215
I first encountered C215 in Rome. I was poking around the Ghetto di Roma and saw these cool scooters. Since then he’s gone over the top with his stencil work- you can see this in the two newer stencils I shot last year near the Piazza del Popolo. Very cool work that makes great use of the environment.
Space Invader
Invader is up all over Rome. I caught four last year. I quite like this one. More Space Invader.
Street Bombing
There used to be more street graffiti. I mean, it’s still covered as there’s no buff I can see; but I feel like much of what I saw in 2012 was there in 2009. Certainly no one had stepped up with volume in the way that someone like REPS was up when I was there previously. I was much further afield in 2012 and no one new really stood out in terms of real volume. I did like the writer CLAUDE’s style, but didn’t really get a great photo. I guess I’ll have to go back.
STEN LEX x PUTIN
Look at this thing. It is glorious. More Sten Lex
OCLOCK
I’ve photographed OCLOCK in a lot of places, including Boston. I stumbled upon this one. He’s got a French Wikipedia page.
Miami 2010-2012
Ah, Graffiti Disneyland. I go down to Art Basel Miami Beach every year. It’s Graffiti Disneyland. It’s both the worst place in the world and the best place in the world for graffiti for one week every year. What follows is just a small slice of the hundreds of images I’ve taken of the annual art orgy.
Space Invader
Space Invader makes Miami for me, in terms of street art. The guy is up all over town and it’s a lot of fun trying to spot them all as you make your way around town.
EINE
Just like Invader, you know, in general, what you’re going to get from EINE. That said… I love the work. The scale and execution are top-notch. More EINE.
Graffiti
You’ve all seen the first piece. It’s huge and well worth all the hype. More RETNA and EL MAC.
The second piece from JENKS is just killer.
That abandoned building piece is just crazy.
How nice is that DRAMA (RIP) piece? So smooth.
And, of course, IMOK represents down there even if I’m just around as a tourist. More EWOK.
More Street Art
I love the Cash for Your Warhol billboard. It was a very prominent placement. Classic. And ROA is always a popular choice, even if it was hard to get the full scale.
Dublin 2008
Dublin has a surprisingly robust scene. It’s very much in your face there.
EELUS
The angel is a very accessible image, obviously, and the bronco is too cool. More EELUS
EINE
I first encountered EINE with this PRISON FOOD piece. Very cool.
Windmill Lane
Apparently, U2 recorded their first few albums in this neighborhood and, for some reason, people are allowed to paint there. It’s a strange scene. Very cool. Just strange to walk into this hall of fame looking place in the middle of Dublin.
Iceland 2011
I love Iceland. Click through to Flickr and check out the big version of this wall. It, like a lot of Iceland graffiti, is a blur of styles. Very cool.
Los Angeles 2011
Speaking of BIG, this wall by OBEY is a giant (har har.)
Toronto 2012
The area I was in when I went to Toronto for work was absolutely covered with graffiti. Blocks upon blocks of alleys filled with pieces.
How fresh is that BACON? SKAM is very clean and represents all over that area. The DMC truck is just a nice capture.
San Francisco 2013
I took a lot of photos in SF earlier this year. This one is the best. Check out more MADC. She’s really good.
Amsterdam 2006
Amsterdam has a lot of work on the streets. I was actually there for Vermeer, Rembrandt and, luckily, Caravaggio, but I shot a lot of graffiti as well.
Amer
I dig this piece. It’s actually very simple, in terms of structure. There’s not a lot of camouflage, doo-dads and/or bits going on, but the way he freaks out the bars makes it very stylish. Plus it’s clean. Cleaner than I can paint, that’s for sure.
Lazer314
This guy is right up my alley. I normally shoot first and review later when I’m walking around but I actually lingered on this one for a bit. Check out more of Lazer314’s work (different than this but still cool) if you’re so inclined.
Next week? Boston. I swear I won’t talk smack about anyone.
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