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Focus on Urban Art
From the bold and rebellious streaks of graffiti to intricate mural projects that capture the heart of a metropolis, urban art is a captivating form of creativity that transforms our everyday environments.
Marin Fadiloglulari
Friday 23 August, 2024
Urban art is a dynamic genre that brings our cities to life through creative expressions on public spaces, with common features including graffiti, murals, urban wall art, and city landscape paintings. But there’s more to urban art than what initially meets the eye.
Urban art has always been full of life and variety, but it didn’t always get the attention it deserved in the wider art scene. For a long time, the big art movements focused on classical themes, pushing urban and street art to the edges. But as cities grew and evolved, so did the appreciation for the art that covers their walls. Starting with the graffiti artists of the 70s and moving on to muralists who share community stories, urban art has really started to shine. It’s become a key part of our culture, with artists like Banksy and Shepard Fairey bringing street art into the global spotlight.
There are plenty of opportunities to shop for urban art at Affordable Art Fairs. So, if you’re hoping to add an urban twist to your interior, you can explore a range of bold, street-art inspired works from artists from around the world at our fairs!
STREET ART AND ORIGINAL GRAFFITI
When we think about urban art, graffiti is probably the first thing that comes to mind. It’s bright, bold, and often has a rebellious feel. You’ll find it on walls and in alleys in cities everywhere. What initially started as a form of underground expression in the 70s has turned into a well-known art form. Whether it’s local artists’ intricate tags, to massive works by famous street artists, graffiti really is the heartbeat of urban culture. Unlike museum art, graffiti is out in the open, so anyone can see it as they go about their day.
Street art is a specific subset of urban art that focuses on public spaces like walls and buildings. It uses a variety of techniques from spray paint to stencils and even 3D installations. Above all, it’s known to break traditional art rules and challenge societal norms. This often makes it politically charged, socially provocative, and just really intriguing to look at.
acrylic and spray paint on a metal sign, 190 x 220 mm, Limn Gallery
A good example is Mr. Brainwash. His style blends graffiti, stencils, and other mixed media, drawing from pop culture icons like Andy Warhol and street artists like Banksy.
MURAL PROJECTS
Murals are a key element of urban art. They have a unique way of transforming blank walls into powerful storytelling canvases. These large-scale artworks often reflect the community’s history, struggles, and dreams, adding depth and meaning to the urban landscape.
Additionally, there are individual muralists specialising in 3D street art. Leon Keer’s work is a perfect example. Notably, all of his urban murals are fully hand painted, giving the artwork an increasingly realistic look. He has taken this to a whole other level with his augmented reality 3D murals, which you can watch come to life by scanning the painting to create experience from multiple perspectives.
URBAN WALL ART
Urban art also includes a variety of innovative styles and techniques, like stencilling and paste-ups, that add beauty to ordinary places. Urban painters turn blank walls into huge pieces of art, bringing colour and creativity to everyday surroundings.
This art genre ranges from realistic paintings that capture the buzz of city life, to abstract pieces that stir emotions through an array of different shapes, colours, and textures. For example, Lindert Steegen’s abstract style is all about unique shapes and an accompanying bold colour palette. If you haven’t already caught a glimpse of his artwork at several festival stages, metro stations or public squares – you might have seen his eye-catching 8-meter-long artwork at Affordable Art Fair Brussels in 2024.
CITYSCAPE PAINTINGS
Finally, cityscape paintings provide a more classic yet equally fascinating view of urban life. They particularly capture the essence of the city, highlighting its architecture, skyline, and the changing light and shadows on the buildings.
‘Rainbow bridge’ by Oli-B, though, offers an unusual, geometric take on our traditional understanding of cityscape paintings. The outline of the city in soft pastel creates a dreamlike atmosphere as opposed to a chaotic feel, leaving the rest to your imagination.
However they choose to do it, cityscape paintings encourage us to pause and notice the detailed beauty of the urban environment that we might usually overlook.
So, next time you stroll through the streets, take a moment to appreciate the urban art around you – or keep an eye out for them in one of our upcoming fairs!
Main Image: SVEN, ‘Funktion’, 2023, spray and acrylic on canvas, 80 x 130 cm, Galerie Art Jingle