Tribute To Graffiti: 50 Beautiful Graffiti Artworks
Street culture and graffiti are well-known for being provocative, appealing, bold and uncompromising. Originally used by gangs to mark their territory in some urban area, graffitis have now become a rich medium for unrestricted expression of ideas and statements. In fact, creative designers and artists across the globe use this form of art to deliver their message and showcase their work.
Probably the most prominent graffiti artist is Banksy, a famous pseudo-anonymous British artist whose works focus on topics such as politics, culture, and ethics. His art has appeared in cities around the world; it’s worth mentioning that Banksy does not sell photos of street graffiti or mount exhibitions of screenprints in commercial galleries. You can explore Banksy’s works in the Time’s slideshow The World According To Banksy. However, many different artists explore graffiti in a variety of ways.
In this episode of Monday Inspiration series we are presenting a tribute to street art and graffiti — over 50 examples of beautiful and impressive graffiti artworks. Hopefully everybody will find some inspiration at least in some of the works showcased below. Feel free to explore the works of artists by following the links to their sites.
Graffiti Art
Retna Saber Revok SeventhLetter
Wall Spankers Project
Our goal is to bring together international artists and designers in a collaborative, sharing environment. The website serves as an online gallery showcasing the artists involved in the sticker swap. Currently 4 issues are released.
Muck
Lady Pink: Sandra Fabara
Lady Pink is a legend. In the 1980s she made a name for herself as one of the only females capable of competing with men in the graffiti subculture.
Collective Graffiti, Chiado, Lisbon
Further Resources
- Graffwriter
Create your custom graffiti artwork. - Reverse Graffiti
Eco-friendly graffiti created by actually cutting through and cleaning up grit to leave a lasting impression. - Graffiti finds its place in contemporary art
A young French graffiti artist who goes by the tag name Teurk, clambered onto the ruins of an old bridge and set to work with an aerosol can. - Crookedbrains:Beautiful Graffiti Art
Graffiti from the walls of Israel/Palestine,Brazil and Ukranian - Rene Gagnon:Post-Graffiti Abstract Expressionism
Bridging the Gap Between Urban Graffiti Art and Contemporary Abstract Expressionism. - Artist Draws ‘Clean’ Graffiti from Dirty Walls
A British street artist known as Moose creates graffiti by cleaning dirt from sidewalks and tunnels
Related Articles
You can also take a look at the following related articles:
Liam Potter
September 22nd, 2008 11:51 amThe 2nd xens piece, I watched him paint it, it was amazing to watch.
juansolo
September 22nd, 2008 9:01 pmjojo!! la Cagaron ESTOS PUTOS CABRONES, las imagenes… alucinantes, gracias a quienes nos llevan a otro mundo con su arte!! estoy exitaDO…
Joe
September 22nd, 2008 9:02 pmOptimus Prime’s hands are blue, not red.
The Ad Mad
September 23rd, 2008 6:23 amNice collection! Love the star wars one
catfood
September 23rd, 2008 1:10 pmThat’s Sever not Saber.
Even though Saber’s roller piece from SD should be in here too.
visualinfluence
September 24th, 2008 6:47 pmvery cool
Dr. Steve Jacobs
September 25th, 2008 6:32 amIt’s beautiful until someone paints it on the side of YOUR house or in your neighborhood.
If it’s so beautiful, put it on canvas and sell it.
Jackson
September 25th, 2008 8:16 amthe first piece by Stuart Herbert (bright colours on the dark background) is actually a piece by a Welsh artist know as sadsak,hes brilliant,take a look at his stuff at : http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=2700167
secondly,obey(sheppards fairy) and banksy could easily be the same person seeing as banksy identity is hidden,and most information on him (such as being a Bristolian) could easily be fake,with not objective source whos to say! (personally i dont think they are,but their central themes and ideas are strikingly similar in some respects so its not that obscure an idea.
and for those that have posted hate against graffiti (vandalism and graffiti are no the same thing,graffiti is a typographical art form,vandalism is damage of public property,2 very different things), i think youve missed the point one of our human rights is FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION, and the governments bad attitude towards graffiti in most countries raises a valid point,personally i dont like like tagging and bombing,but one thing i hate more is waking up to a dull grey city every day,and attempts at brightening it up are more than welcome to me,there are certainly more options and alternatives that could be taken towards graffiti (and vandalism of artistic form), why not have more legal places,in wales the legal places that are here are overrun with graffiti artists asking for more space because they dont want to do illegal work,why not listen people?
abby
September 25th, 2008 2:50 pmThis is why I hate tagging so much…. if you want to leave a mark, make it memorable and interesting!
Ramtha
September 25th, 2008 11:05 pmLol…. I see that starwars “grafitti” everyday… I thought it was just a commish mural…. we have alot of those around town… >> now there’s a Giant tree on a building down the road. Its cool looking!
graffiti
September 26th, 2008 12:47 amHey…
You should know this guy ;)
Keusta.net
Real Witer
September 27th, 2008 10:10 amAs with most of these “best of graffiti” blog posts, the majority of pictures and artists promoted here are NOT graffiti. What you really want to say is “street art”. As someone mentioned in a previous comment, graffiti is a TYPOGRAPHICAL art form that emphasizes stylized roman lettering above all else. Another bit of misinformation here is that graffiti started with territorial gang markings. No it didn’t. A sort of anonymous fame has always been the driving force behind the “graffiti” you’re referring to, which started in Philly and New York in the 60′s and 70′s. Many true graffiti artists wouldn’t take a second look at most of the stuff you’ve posted here if they saw it in real life, because it’s not graffiti. For instance, most writers don’t like banksy, who the public embraces for his artsy social commentary or whatever. These “best of ‘graffiti” blog posts do the opposite of their intention, which i presume to be an effort to raise ‘awareness’ of graffiti as a legitimate art form. These posts only reinforce the idea that this street art stuff is the ‘good’ graffiti (the stuff thats pretty to look at for people who don’t understand it), but those tags on the side of your office are bad and should be condemned. I’d rater see your, and my, office, house and city streets completely covered with handstyles and two-color throw-ups than this art-school-trying-to-acquire-street-cred nonsense ignorant people take for graffiti. Just because it’s on the street and not in a gallery doen’t make it graffiti.
Sebastian Santander Lazo
September 28th, 2008 6:09 pmSO fuckin Beautiful, mi art ist not compare, i do kindergarden draw,
Saludos de Chile
randompost
September 29th, 2008 4:51 amjust a reply to jackson (comment 110) banksy is no longer an unknown, he is a millionaire, in fact even one of his close friends from back in the day sold his van (adorned with banksy art on all panels) and set up his whole family.
to “real writer” i do have respect for some that tag, either those impossible to get to spots (extreme tagging) or those that make a nice looking tag, but lets face it when your on the train and you see the same tag over and over and put over some nice looking street art or whatever it gets real old real quick. and while you may technically be right about graf being only typographical language is an evolving thing and the term graffiti is commonly used to describe street art and as such its official meaning will change to reflect this unless we stop using it in this way – we meaning everyone except you since we are the majority and we own the english language (i so hope your going to point out graffiti is a latin word and as such part of a dead language, cause while technically true this would mean that english has no words since it is a mish mash of other languages)
Jorge
September 30th, 2008 4:48 amI’m agree with you PAK, “El niño de las pinturas” (he sign as “Sex”) is really a genius.
Visit his work on Flickr Flickr or in his Official Web Site Official Web Site.
Greetings from Granada.
Jimena
September 30th, 2008 4:38 pmAlex Pardee is missing here.
tristan savatier
October 1st, 2008 2:04 amplease remove my photos (Loupiote) from your blog.
those photos are copyrighted and i do not authorize their use on any blog with advertising.
-t
Terra
October 1st, 2008 5:47 pmterbear06.deviantart.com I have a few graffiti posted of what i have found in Hemet, ca. i love graffiti yes i call it that.. does it really matter if i call it STREET ART? I know its art. and so do you. so I will call it graffiti and not be PC.. BY THE WAY this article is awesome!
gogudumitru
October 2nd, 2008 5:55 amit sucks, a waste of time
Kev's
October 13th, 2008 12:51 pmEl de “Marco” esta demasiado brutalll…
(EN) “Marco” it’s the most AWESOME…
En Caracas (Venezuela) tambien hay varios demasiado buenos…
(EN) In Caracas (Venezuela), there is also very good..
SALUDOS de Venezuela
Soh
October 17th, 2008 6:38 pmDont forget about Craola…
Craola Artist Spotlight
Do5e
October 19th, 2008 9:52 amWith the exception of a few most of those were Legals, Which other than being on the street does not make them street art. Alot of those pictures make me sick because they are painted by yuppie beatniks who have some half baked reason for wanting to express themselves and choose to mooch off the graffiti culture to get there. for those of you who want real street art go to youtube and search Above1, Doug, or any Stompdown video. Peace. Dose, KSB BPB repin the midwest
Julian Mentat
October 25th, 2008 4:07 am>> “vandalism and graffiti are no the same thing,graffiti is a typographical art form,
>> vandalism is damage of public property,2 very different things”
Correction; vandalism is damage of PROPERTY, whether public or private.
To deface a surface against the owner’s wishes IS vandalism. Calling it an “art form” does not get you off the hook.
>> “one of our human rights is FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION”
And another of our human rights is to possess a thing without anonymous strangers secretly spraying paint on it.
venkatesh
October 25th, 2008 5:27 amExcellent Arts..
Ignatz Horowitz
October 26th, 2008 7:47 amNot one mention of Vancouver Street Art’s blatant rip-off (not to mention copyright infringement) of Roy Lichtenstein’s comic book artwork ( http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/07/21/pop-art-is-alive-classics-and-modern-artworks/ )? Being a copycat is lame enough…being a crappy copycat is blasphemy.
rogerio oliveira
November 9th, 2008 7:46 amvery good this gallery!
has a selection of typography and graffiti here: http://a-ham.com/typograff/
Manup
November 11th, 2008 11:01 amAny who know what does “PAK” stand for? Have seen it everywhere but no explanation as to what it means.
Julie
November 13th, 2008 8:56 pm@Manup: if you see it often, it can either be the name of an artist or the name of the crew (group/team) this artist is a part of.
jiiim
November 19th, 2008 3:51 amTheres just one problem with the list. Most of these are not graffiti. They are mostly legal street art. These have little to nothing to do with graffiti.
Jami
November 19th, 2008 8:19 pmThese are gorgeous. I wish there was graffiti like this closer to me, I miss seeing amazing pieces like this in person.
Lt. Dan Bassett
November 26th, 2008 4:34 amthe “unknown” above has been variously attributed. As it is a paste-up drawn with a very distinctive hand, my guess would be to attribute this one to Swoon or someone very much emulating her style.
Like street art? Take a glance at juxtapoz mag. Even the mainstream print media is catching on to the low brow aesthetic. Witness recent major section or cover art by Gary Taxali in the Sunday NYT and on the cover of Newsweek.
Bring on the Baseman, I say.
elizabeth.ortiz
December 15th, 2008 3:41 pmi really liked it
KELP
December 16th, 2008 11:38 amYes. The K.E.L.P picture is a painting in Santiago from graffiti writers: Cekis and Ayslap (both from Chile). KELP.cl is a latinamerica-based webportal which showcases only the crème de la crème on urban art. It´s slogan is “graffiti meets design”.
We invite you to visit it to get to enjoy, explore this amazing world of graffiti style.
Saludos
KELP
Nadia
January 6th, 2009 2:12 amWhat can i say? The art work is freaking dope!It’s 2009 and looking at all this masterpieces is really inspiring. How i wish i was somewhere nearby to witness the artist at work. It’s a new year and i want to do something out of my normal league. I saw this job posting
Wes Wong
January 21st, 2009 1:00 am***Alot of the flickr links are not credited correctly. They are for the photographer’s username and not the actual artist.***
A
February 8th, 2009 11:49 pmThere are some Bad-A drawings up there, man! Makes me want to Tag again.
Newfie Bullet and Lady Pink’s Lettering is just sick.
Rob Che
February 12th, 2009 5:13 amGreat collection of pieces… I used it as inspiration for my site destroybeforereading.com !… Thanks you !
lok
February 18th, 2009 4:14 amwhere is DAIM? He’s the best for me. Banksy is too commercial, everybody talks about him, but so many other artists got actualy better skills…. good list anyway.
ellie
November 1st, 2009 5:54 pmya fulla crap
solo
February 19th, 2009 11:28 pmamazing!!!
i wish your tatoo on my back!
Bee
February 20th, 2009 9:16 pmThere’s a great Danish graffiti artist called ‘Husk Mit Navn’ (Remember My Name), he has been beautifying the streets of Copenhagen for many years now.
Bilal
February 22nd, 2009 3:24 pmextremely amazing
parisa
February 24th, 2009 4:17 pmtank you,they are cool
KenK
March 3rd, 2009 8:29 amNot so quick! There are people who have been missed and should have well replaced some people on the list.
Alinga
March 5th, 2009 2:28 amI have photographed a very nice collection of graffiti and street art.
You can view them here http://www.alinga.com.au/?p=361
Regards
Adrian
Joanna
March 26th, 2009 2:21 pmDoes anyone know AMAZING graffiti artists in San Diego?
zac
March 29th, 2009 12:58 amTHATS AMAZING
THANKS TO WHOEVER TOOK ALL THESE F0T0Z AND PILED THEM TOGETHER FOR US TO SEE!!!!!!!!!
THEIR AMAZING
I REALLY LIKE THE GORILLA ONE WITH THE RED EYES ITS AWESOME
THANX AGAIN FOR TAKING THE TIME TO DO THAT
Silent
April 4th, 2009 4:35 pmAmazing!
Justin
April 8th, 2009 4:44 amThat is a great collection. Did you know that some of the street artists you featured are from Bristol, Banksy being one and the other Xenz (Graeme Brusby) lived in Bristol for nine years. The Bristol graffiti and street art scene is really strong, I’ve recently put together a collection of photos from Bristol which you might find interesting.
http://www.bristol-street-art.co.uk
Kargamel
April 16th, 2009 12:44 amwowwww, very nice
kerouac
April 28th, 2009 10:47 pmexcellent gallery
Mona
May 6th, 2009 9:55 amReaal Neat, My Fav is Banksy, Love the rat painting on fox…Haha!
qbix
May 6th, 2009 8:28 pmUh, you forgot one of the masters, Daim! Still, good gallery. Hopefully my work will be here one day.
Joax
May 11th, 2009 3:03 amFresh collection.. but you forgot my work joax graffiti :-P ^_^
chef
May 13th, 2009 1:58 pmYeah….this is da shit!
dad nar vid
May 26th, 2009 12:49 amel graffity es arte callejero lo k asemos es pillar botes y darle caña a toooo el muro k este a nuetro alcanse
jlkce
May 30th, 2009 7:36 amYou should check out these as well:
Herakut: http://www.herakut.de/home.html
45rpm: http://www.flickr.com/photos/whatcollective/sets/72057594093728353/
And this amazing wall animation by the very talented BLU http://www.vimeo.com/993998
Remba
June 17th, 2009 7:41 amEverythings about this blog is cool!!!
Terrance
July 9th, 2009 10:49 pmWell, such arts isn’t permitted in conservative Asian countries.
Nitcho
July 20th, 2009 7:01 amThis article have many information problems.
First, many of them are “street art” works, and not GRAFFITI work.
Some pictures are credited to the photographer, and not the graffiti artist! With the link right by its side!
Please search more about Graffiti, and the creators of what you are posting here.
James Svendsen
July 21st, 2009 6:57 pmGreat artwork and photography to both . I am doing a piece on graphite clean up with good and unusual art . I am james_svendsen @hotmail.com . If you send me some with a website I can send you what i have found .
Helge-Kristoffer
September 3rd, 2009 1:11 pmNice! I liked 6emeia’s ones!
Aaron VIII
September 7th, 2009 12:40 amGraffiti = letters. This is (mostly) not graffiti
http://www.flickr.com/cardiganlane
Tom
October 1st, 2009 6:23 pmVery cool character pieces and tags! I admit, I really do miss seeing Daim here too… I have been learning how to graffiti, and found a cool resource that recommended me here:
http://www.thehowtograffiti.com
They have some sweet tutorials for getting started with graffiti!
Sam
October 6th, 2009 2:51 pmLoved the pieces but I don’t think I saw any Philly writers…too bad! PASTOR, MEND and DAN1 are some of philly’s super writers.
Kassondra
October 13th, 2009 1:56 pmI have a book called ‘graffiti world’ and another called ‘graffiti women’
it really, honestly, makes me want to get the hell out of America and start doing this kind of art.
cloyd
October 14th, 2009 9:04 pmthe unknown artist that you displayed is “gaia” also you had a piece labeled with “saber” when it was in fact “ruets and rime” and “sever”…caught you sleeping : )
Lord Jim
October 14th, 2009 10:31 pmHardly any of the photos identify the artists proper. A lot of the tags are wrong, attribute the work to the photographer, use generic terms or simply are not there at all. Doesn’t that bother anyone?
…would be cool and well worth the effort to get it all straight, no?
ehsaan mesghali
October 16th, 2009 10:40 amu forgot the best in the game: daim
http://www.daimgallery.com/
Rmesh
October 19th, 2009 4:26 pm“Originally used by gangs to mark their territory in some urban area,”
This my friend, is a bunch of horse shit. Do your research.
Virtual Monk
October 19th, 2009 9:40 pmWord up to Deuce 7 holdin’ it down for Minneapolis.
Jammee
October 20th, 2009 9:55 pm“Marquis Lewis” is NOT who painted that. That’s The Mac (El Mac http://www.elmac.net) from Phoenix and El Rey. Wrong wrong wrong. Give due credit!
maha
October 23rd, 2009 7:14 amWONDERFUL ART!!!!!!
John
October 29th, 2009 1:16 pmIf you enjoyed this graffiti you should check out this piece.
http://www.moonhead.co.uk/STOCK/banksy.html
…probably one of my favorites
jorge
November 1st, 2009 2:49 pmabsolutely awesome!!!
ellie
November 1st, 2009 5:52 pmlove it bruvz
xx
graffiti
November 2nd, 2009 4:59 amanother great artist
stack > http://keusta.net/blog
Ash
November 13th, 2009 1:56 pmthe first piece is located in walsall, birmigham west midlands uk on the side of a skate park. sadly the skate park has now been destroy to build a carpark. massive shame is a great piece of work
manuel
November 19th, 2009 1:54 pmok very good……. soy español y no tengo ni idea de ingles
solo digo soy guapisimos!!!!!!!!!!!
francesco calco
January 7th, 2010 7:43 am—GRAFFITI****** the mother of all free expression ! !
Inma
January 28th, 2010 7:29 amGreat article!! Thanks so much for being so generous.i’ve linked your article to my blog.If you want to see it: inmitacs.wordpress.com
Jamal.M.O.B
February 6th, 2010 2:07 pmGreat Shit Wish I Could see Some Of That In Pasadena’California.!<333
LIZZIE
February 16th, 2010 12:03 pmthese r awesome pics i wish i could do that stuff
Slappy
February 18th, 2010 6:45 amI am so stupid
theobserver
February 21st, 2010 9:40 amHey the entry named “Kekko73″ is wrong. I mean, ok the photo came from kekko’s photostream, but the artist is BROS, a Milan based artist. cheers
Jordan S
March 12th, 2010 8:28 amNice Job I like it lot but reminds me of the kkk also i think the world needs more of this, my favorite is the guy thats smoking and its on the side walk nice work keep it up :) :)
Matthew Hewison & Rebecca Easton
March 15th, 2010 11:53 amVery good designs, we especialy liked:
. Seetwist
. Lady Pink: Sandra Fabara
. The 2 wall spanker projects
. Mrzer
. 6emeia
.Saber
.Paopao
and Jakedobkin
the boss
March 17th, 2010 3:18 amthe graffiti on this page is great!
mark
March 17th, 2010 3:23 amcan we meet up soon babes?
Matt
March 21st, 2010 11:13 amI don’t think I saw anything from the east side gallery in Berlin, some great work all over that city.
Ben Koshkin
March 27th, 2010 2:08 pmThere is a lot of creativity in this world. It’s too bad that cities don’t use more of these artists to paint over existing eyesores.
Ben Koshkin
Albert
April 28th, 2010 1:20 amit add a certain flare and depth to a plain wall
alessandro
May 9th, 2010 4:27 amGreat 3D paintings – in italian “madonnari”
http://www.urbantrash.net/graffiti/3dpainting-graffiti-street-art-foto/
Fred Dombrose
June 18th, 2010 1:05 pmBeauty is in the eye of the beholder. I think that Vitaly Friedman must have some dust in his eye! Great art, but beautiful – I don’t think so. Get a vocabulary Vitaly!
Arron
June 20th, 2010 11:04 amin my opinion they are some pieces of amazing graffiti art but i have seen much better out on the streets and some of my own but most people would struggle to better
Arron
June 20th, 2010 11:05 amgood seen better actully i think i could do better then that although i have won an award for worlds best graffiti
mary
August 25th, 2010 3:30 pmThe men who are drawing that are simply: Geniuses!
Realspray
September 9th, 2010 1:32 pmGreat list, i have see very nice pictures.
My art works : realspray.fr
félix g
September 27th, 2010 11:41 pmAwesome ! There’s so much creative people in there !
I really enjoyed the work of 6emeia..
esher
September 28th, 2010 12:33 amwell. that’s a really unsorted random list. this way some of the artworks are out of context. credits are not correct (photographer VS artist).
by the way: we run a big graffiti photo sharing community: http://streetfiles.org
Mish
October 5th, 2010 4:51 amA nice snapshot but have to agree with Esher and a few others about the randomness of the list, but I guess you’re limited to who you can feature in a small space, and someone’s always gonna miss out. Good effort though – sequel sometime?
I run a blog for those readers who may be keen to see more of what’s going on in the London graffiti scene: http://urban-escapades.blogspot.com/