Following street art

Our interest in street art begins in London’s East End. We’ve booked a tour with “Alternative London” and walk through the streets around Brick Lane. We would probably have spotted the large murals on our own. But the tiny stickers, the miniature sculptures and a picture made from stretched threads? Much of it would have passed us by. We learn about the artists, their techniques and how their relationship with the police shapes their work. Not everything is made with permission; some pieces have to go up quickly. Alongside them are large commissions, including work for well-known brands. What we once saw mainly as colour on walls acquires names, stories and all sorts of forms. The value of that tour lasts well beyond the afternoon. From then on, we look more closely wherever we go — even where there’s no sign pointing to an attraction.

“Wynwood starts here”, says a sign. It really does feel as though an entire neighbourhood has defined itself through its street art. Large murals cover the façades; around Wynwood Marketplace, shipping containers are painted too. The art continues across signs, bins and fire hydrants, right down to the pavement. In between are fashionable cafés and contemporary galleries. Art has long been a reason to come here, have a coffee and spend some money. At the heart of the neighbourhood are Wynwood Walls, an open-air street art museum founded in 2009 by property developer Tony Goldman and curator Jeffrey Deitch. Here, works are selected and presented; alongside the murals we see paintings indoors and large sculptures. It’s a short step from the street to the art world. The neighbourhood’s redevelopment and gentrification are part of that story. For now, we enjoy the variety on our walks — and notice how closely art, urban development and marketing are intertwined.

In Toronto we turn off south of Queen Street West into Graffiti Alley. For several blocks, narrow lanes lead past the backs of buildings, garage doors and brick walls. Almost every surface is painted. Large figures, lettering and smaller marks sit side by side or overlap. These are the unassuming service lanes behind the buildings of the Fashion District. Art has made them a destination in their own right. In 2011, the city formally recognised their importance and exempted them from its municipal graffiti rules. That isn’t blanket permission to spray any wall that belongs to someone else. For us, it’s above all a rewarding detour: a back lane we take our time in. It has long had a place in the guidebooks.

In Athens, street art seems to be everywhere. Every wall, garage door and utility box appears to serve as a canvas. Images, lettering and tags overlap; some look almost incidental, others occupy an entire façade. We seek out a few well-known works. On Pireos Street we find “Hands”, Pavlos Tsakonas’s design after Dürer’s praying hands. Here the fingertips point downwards. In Exarchia, an enormous man lies across a building: “No Land for the Poor” by WD, Wild Drawing. Even the windows become part of his body. Between these destinations we discover many smaller works. Some distinctive styles seem to follow us around the city: near our Airbnb, around the Acropolis and again in Exarchia. We turn into a street for a picture, then find ourselves looking at its houses, shops and cafés too. Street art has become another way of finding our way around a city.