da Vincis of the Streets

Deih, Fanzara, Spain

ericailcane, Mexico City

I’ve gone all ZOMG STREET ART IS THE BEST!!!!! before. Yes, I know.

On Twitter, I now follow a bunch of street art galleries. @GoogleStreetArt, @streetartmagic,  @BeArtist_BeArt and @streetartnews.  Every day I get fresh loads of mondo cool shit popping up on my screen. It's wonderful, fires up the brain and stirs the wanderlust pot somethin' fierce.

In Montreal, Jen and I found way less pretentious, more inspiring, gorgeous art on the sides of buildings – more there than in the ICA. In Reykjavik, where our funds were très limited, we took a pass on the museum and wandered the streets – MEGA happily.

The site Earth Porm lists twenty of the best cities for street art. Mexico City comes in at numero uno.

The city just recently became more colorful after “All City Canvas” went into play. The graffiti art in Mexico City conducted for this project was legal; in fact it took 11 long months to gather the appropriate permissions. 9 artists, some local and some foreign, were then brought in to paint the buildings as they are today.

Sabotaje Al Montaje, Canary Islands, Spain

DZIA=KRANK

Go lookie-lookie. Gorgeous stuff!

Przemyslaw Biejzyk and Mateusz Gapski, known together as “Etam”,  created most of the brill murals in Lodz, Poland (which holds fifth position).

Fintan Magee, Sapri, Italy

New York City is, of course, on the list. Also, Valparaiso, Chile, São Paulo, Brazil, Berlin, Germany, Cape Town, South Africa, Moscow, Bethlehem, Istanbul and more.

I used to take music vacas – Amsterdam for the small clubs AND the World Drum Fest, Edinburgh for the pub bands and concert halls , the Orkney Islands for the céilidhs and folk festival, Prague (cool jazz scene – who knew?) and more.

I would just stumble over the incredible street art as I went about finding the clubs and concert halls. I think it’s now time to intentionally go hunting up these amazing paintings. Mebbe I'll start with Mexico City?

JPS

People say graffiti is ugly, irresponsible and childish... but that's only if it's done properly.
~ Banksy

Everyone has to scratch on walls somewhere or they go crazy
~ Michael Ondaatje, In the Skin of a Lion 

Well, while you were in the bathroom, I sat down at this picnic table here in Bumblefug, Kentucky, and noticed that someone had carved that GOD HATES FAG, which, aside from being a grammatical nightmare, is absolutely ridiculous. So I'm changing it to 'God Hates Baguettes.' It's tough to disagree with that. Everybody hates baguettes.
~ John Green, An Abundance of Katherines