This artist has TALENT!!!
The best quote I heard in Dublin came from an employee at the wonderful Jam Art Factory gallery who told me that Dublin’s street art scene is really just getting started as the country is essentially so Roman Catholic that it’s hard to break the rules! It was only about 10 years ago that street art beyond basic tagging started appearing. I could definitely see what she meant as we found lots of interesting graffiti art (writing), but not too much street art. Quite different from London. That being said, there were still some wonderful works to be found!
First up, Anner and I both loved the work of an artist, Aoife Hanrahan, who calls herself Stencilize. That’s right – Stencilize is a female street artist! She’s one of the first we’ve come across who’s starting to make a name for herself and her work is GREAT!
All Stencilize’s pieces we saw were either deer or bulls.
Da Bulls!
An older piece, but still beautiful.
I was also really pleased to see a piece of her work in small size for sale at the Jam Art Factory. They support a number of the local street artists, selling prints of their work as well as smaller scale originals. Do check out their website – here’s a link directly to their pieces by Stencilize – as they are happy to ship internationally!
One great thing we found, similar to London, was that the city must have a program allowing/supporting/paying? artists to paint the street electrical boxes in all sorts of designs. They ran the gamut from really abstract to simple to photorealistic. Waaay nicer than just seeing green electrical boxes on the street everywhere, and I bet it helps keep folks from tagging or leaving trash on them.
R-2, you’re looking good!
We found him!
A little caricature on the side of this one.
The 5th Beatle!!!
A wonderful mix of art nouveau and art deco – I REALLY liked this one!
One thing we did notice was a lot more folks out painting during the day. We might see one or two while touring other cities, but I’d guess we saw a half dozen works in progress during out visit.
One of the bigger, more realistic pieces we saw.
Just getting started on his graffiti art. If you look on the lower left you can see that he first used a roller to paint out a piece behind and was making his own new creation.
This was an area where we saw a BUNCH of different graffiti artists working. Quite a range of talent, but good to see them out working on their craft in an area that obviously accepts and appreciates it!
That last shot leads me into showing some of the best (to me!) graffiti we saw. There were a couple of main areas, along Camden Row, near the Bernard Shaw Pub and in this private parking area on Francis Street, and the talented artists seemed to stay mostly there. These are definitely artists, not just taggers!
Excellent use of…err…space.
Everybody loves bunnies, right?
You can see how artists in this area simply paint over each other’s work. You definitely wouldn’t expect your piece to last if you painted here.
Great graffiti-street art combo!
Back to the street art side of things! More than any city we’ve explored to date, businesses were having street artists paint on their gates and walls as advertisements. Sort of a throwback to how carneys would have signs enticing you to go into the attractions or old shops might have signs showing what they were for folks who might not be able to read. Afficianados would probably downplay these as street art, but they were still fun to see.
Sharks and Aussie BBQ, an obvious combination? Hmm…
For the knitting fans among us. You know who you are!
Meat, meat, meat!
Bubblicious!
As opposed to some other cities where we took organized tours (can’t recommend them enough if you ever get the chance!), Dublin didn’t seem to have any – at least not when we were there. So Anner and I were just exploring on our own. Not sure why exactly, but we found a few pieces we liked that were essentially just big word poems. By big, I mean 2-3 stories tall!
Yeah, what they said!
I should hope so!
Ok, some were a little smaller.
And now, a collection of other pieces that caught my eye.
A little stencil work with an ode to Straight Outta Compton in the corner.
Another fine stencil piece.
Totally unique.
This piece was two stories up and huge!
Usually I don’t like the surroundings to interrupt the art in my photos, but I think it worked here.
Another excellent mix of graffiti and street art. So stunning to me the work that can be done with a spray can!
Spray cans, just like this one!
Another HUGE piece.
I’m not sure I’d name him Bubbles…
Not exactly sure if it’s a group, a movement or what, but there were a number of pieces labeled with ‘Evolve Urban Art’. I support that wholeheartedly!
Can’t have a full city of street art without at least one political message in there.
Boom box anyone?
For some reason this one just seemed like a French bistro scene to me.
There were a LOT of works that included in animals in Dublin. Crow, eel, wolf…wonder what the artist was imagining here.
So true! Thanks, Anner, for always going exploring with me!
If these have inspired you and you’d like to see more, here are links to all my previous posts on street art and graffiti we’ve found around the world!
Loved seeing these! You introduced me to a whole other way of looking at my surroundings while in Dublin!
It truly amazes me how talented these artists are – they are really thinking about their city and how their art can interact with it. I hope my posts help introduce our readers to these talents that are outside the mainstream, but definitely have something to say…beautifully!
Not exactly what I would have thought of if someone mentioned Dublin! So glad you posted these. Most are truly wonderful. Anyone for a Seattle effort?
Some cities it’s easier to find the art than others – guided tours certainly help, but there wasn’t one in Dublin. Bet it happens in the next couple years, though! I wonder if there’s already a tour in Seattle? Anner wants to have someone come paint out back fence…we could be part of the tour!
Wow, so cool!