Banksy Has Triggered A Beautiful And Witty Renaissance In London's Vandalism
Whenever construction starts on a building and wooden hoardings go up, street artists get to work.
It's often hard to know who the artists are. These black and white animals are probably by Roa, a Belgian artist.
In the world of street art, some painters are internationally famous. This two-part mural (see next photo) is by Paul Don Smith.
Smith has gallery representation and his portable work can be bought for as little as £350 each.
What you rarely see is "tagging" — where the vandal simply writes their name in elaborate letters.
The anonymous street artist Banksy became famous in the 1990s when he used stencils to create pictures instead of just spray-painting freehand.
Stencils let Banksy create much more ambitious visual puns on buildings. (None of these are Banksy's, as far as we can tell.)
Note how mixed the painting styles are. New York's Cost and Revs would never get noticed here.
This bored cat is done in a more traditional style.
These cats are gathered around an actual stereo speaker.
The Base real estate agency commissioned this set of murals for its storefront.
These things get everywhere — sometimes you have to look up at the upper floors.
You can take walking tours of Shoreditch to see all the best ones.
There are books and blogs dedicated to recording all the new work that goes up.
Note that the man in this painting is holding an actual rope attached to a real pulley.
These bank-robbing sausages are actually posed around a parking lot security camera, which forms the gun, half way up the wall.
This beautiful depiction of a rainy London street scene appeared on the door of an apartment building. The building's realtor said it would be painted over when new tenants move in.
This is done in the style of Banksy.
This whale is beautiful — but lesser vandals can't seem to resist tagging it.
Advertisement