Berlin Street Art: Freehand Painting

I wasn't quite sure whatto call this category. This is what a lot of people first thing of when they hear street or graffiti art. Even though I saw freehand, it often involves tape, paper or other equipment to create sharp edges or other visual effects, and is often done with photographs or sketches for reference. Usually paintings are done primarily by spray cans, but like traditional painters everybody has their own style and techniques, and brushes, hands, sponges, and probably lots of other things are used. Size can also vary widly. I'm planning to do large murals as a special post since Berlin is really unique for them, but here I'll try to cover a wider range.

I can't figure out who the artist on these interlocking faces is, but they are all over the city. The internet just seems to do a better job of identifying big pieces, plus it's a pretty generic thing to search for.

Artist Kripoe is one of the most visible artists through the city. He paints these yellow fists over bridges, buildings, signs, and really anything else he can find.

Now for some of the bigger things. Some of these might approach what you'd consider mural, but when I do the mural post you'll see the difference.

Australian artist Jimmy C has come up before I believe. His pointism style is quite unique, and he had quite a few pieces in London as well.

I don't automatially recognize most of the rest, so I'm just going to put up a mix of pictures from around the city.

Another interesting spot in the city was this apartment complex. It used to be a pretty slummy party of town, and as part of trying to clean it up a local group of artists painted portraits of different ages, genders and races around it, to help forge a united community.

These are just a few, but there are probably 20-30 portraits in total around the building.

Finally, this is the category that my favourite street artists are in. I had really hoped to find something of theirs in Berlin, since they are a German duo who once did quite a bit there, but I guess they've moved onto other spots and do more gallery shows than street paintings now. In any case, I feel they should be included, so I'm going to cheat. They also have two tremendous books about them and their art which I highly recommend. This is herakut.