I first became aware of street art tours when a fellow blogger posted photos of a trip that they’d been on in Buenos Aires. Street art seems to be growing in popularity and gaining acceptance; it’s been associated with enhancing community cohesion and giving disenchanted youths an outlet to express their frustrations. Of course there’s far more to it all, but I’m not the one to talk about this sub-culture. What do I know? I just like looking at some of the stuff. Little more.
With the rise of street art acceptance, street art tours were always an inevitable progression, and they’re too gaining in popularity. Go to London, San Franscisco, Bangkok or Melbourne and you can find a tour that promises to give you a taste of the latest contemporary art trend.
Whilst I have some questions about how such an underground scene sits within a commercial and mainstream context, I do lean towards street art over concept art, and so, following a tip off from a local, I skipped the tour and just went to the art direct.
This is easy enough for anyone to do as Melbourne’s laneways are infamous and printed up guides tell you exactly where to go. You’d struggle NOT to see any street art. But there is a good chance that without a guide you might miss the really good stuff, just like I probably did.
I’m also pretty sure, though, that there are walls of undiscovered street art away from the tourist eye, and like with any industry, what the mainstream get access to is hardly representative of the overall scene.
For now, this was all I was getting.
Do you reckon they’d let me buy the Ganesh spray job from Hosier Lane (see top pic)? Would anyone really notice if I bought those bricks, say for $1000,000? I’m just going to hunt down a Monopoly set.
Related articles
- Off the street: art for all? (abc.net.au)
- VIDEO: Melbourne grafitti now a legitimate tourist attraction (abc.net.au)
- Top 6 Street Art Laneways in Melbourne (weekendnotes.com)
- Lord Mayor Robert Doyle says Melbourne’s famous street art precinct being abused by taggers (heraldsun.com.au)
- 15 Street Art Spots You Need To Visit Right Now (huffingtonpost.com)
- 15 Street Art Terms You Should Know (complex.com)
- Bangkok hosts its first street art festival (abc.net.au)
- Gritty, grandiose graffiti: The rise of street art in Britain (metro.co.uk)
- Banksy’s Slave Labour sells for more than £750,000 at private London auction (metro.co.uk)
- Street Art (elizabethartandphoto.com)
- Spray it out loud: London’s street art (onefinestay.com)
- Street Art Around the World (zinaidastudio.wordpress.com)
- Inventive Street Art (makesomethingmondays.wordpress.com)
- New NYC street art blends hip-hop and signage (smartsign.com)
love the street art in Melbourne. love your article 🙂
This is barely a glimpse of it… just a few examples. Glad you enjoyed the post. 🙂 Thanks for your comment.
Nice! I like street art. And, I like the Ganesh!
Glad you got to enjoy it! Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Very cool. My favorite thing to follow now is yarn bombing. Especially in Mexico – they have some amazing examples of this new type of street art!
Yes! – that’s what it’s called! – thanks! On a recent trip to Amsterdam I saw some yarn bombing and then coincidentally when I picked up an ‘alternative’ craft book from my family home I found some ‘instructions’ to get started on my own colourful adornments. It seems that yarn bomb street art is finding a way into my life! – so thanks for the Mexican tip-off and yarn bomb awareness raising. I’ll be on alert 🙂
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