I love the street art in Berlin – graffiti, murals, stencils, slogans, stickers, poster-sized prints and my favorites: prints that have been cut out to match the shape of the image – especially the life-sized ones. I don’t know if there’s a term for that.
I also don’t know who the artists are. That’s one of the things that most amazes me about these art forms: if you’re just a casual observer you have no clue who is creating this art. And it seems utterly non-commercial since the viewer doesn’t pay to see or take home the art. So essentially the work seems to be driven by neither by the search for fame nor fortune.
But then of course, within the respective scenes people do know each other. And if you think of artists like Banksy or Obey (aka Shepard Fairey), you know they’re making money. And then there is the site deviantART where you can purchase beautiful pieces of street art.
I still like it best on the walls and sidewalks of the cities – Berlin, New York, Hamburg, London… And when I say street art, I don’t mean lame tags or the annoying subway window scratchiti. On that note: is the reason for the Brandenburger Tor images on Berlin subway windows to discourage people from scratching the glass?
My favorites in the video are the print featuring Sophie Scholl (an image I’ve had a postcard since I was a teenager) and the rabbit behind the bush.
Of course, I only captured the tiniest sliver of what street art is currently to be found in Berlin. I’m tempted to make another video down the line when I’ve collected more…
And last but not least: a big shout out to Jason Matherne of Goonygoogoo Productions who allowed me to use his song “Space”. I wish I could give credit to the visual artists featured – please share if you know any of them.
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| Sophie Scholl Street Art |
gorgeous song! and i love the images. every street is covered in stories!
xo
*kmg
is the Sophie Scholl image the first one in the video (looks like it might be a woman with a bag over her head) ? I'd never heard of her before… just read the history on the wikipedia page.
I could have sworn I had responded to your comments already – but apparently I must not have saved it.
Kate, thank you so much for your kind words.
Brent, Sophie Scholl is the close-up of the woman in profile at 0:12. I'm glad you're reading up on her. There is also a very moving film about her from 2005 called "Final Days".
Hope we'll wander the streets of Berlin together one day.