There’s something special about graffiti street art. Some see it as an eye sore, a form of vandalism, a crime. But some street art is so interesting and artistic it belongs in an art gallery. Some of the best graffiti art I have ever seen outside of New York is in Venice, California. One weekend I decided to hunt the neighborhood for some interesting “street art” – it wasn’t hard to find these works of art around almost every corner; in alleyways and doorways in the streets of Venice. For any connoisseur of high quality street art Venice is a true paradise.
Maybe you’re looking to buy graffiti art on canvas. Why not shoot your own? It’s fun and easy and you’ll get a great sense of satisfaction doing it yourself.
Using an inexpensive “point and shoot” (Canon PowerShot) I shot away at the various graffiti art pieces I found.
Here are some tips for finding graffiti art and turning photos of street art into pieces suitable for wall art:
The right location: find the best areas where quality graffiti art can be found. I’m not talking about “tags” and vandalized walls- I mean real street art. My favorite cities are in New York, Miami, Los Angles and Toronto. If you want to see a neat site that can help you search different areas checkout StreetArtLocator.com- the collection is a little light but it’s fun to use.
Composition: I like to shoot graffiti art in context- as opposed to shooting it close up. I like it when you can tell that it is graffiti street art on a wall. To make things even more interesting I also like to have the photo a little off-center. There really is no wrong way to shoot graffiti…it’s up to you.
Inspiration: Here’s an amazing gallery of graffiti art to get your creative juices flowing. One of our CanvasPop clients recently had these amazing graffiti pictures turned into canvas: (see below.)
So get out there, explore, have fun and shoot some amazing street art. When you’re done share it with us or upload it and turn it into a canvas art print at CanvasPop.
Graffiti Canvas Art, Triptych made by one of our clients. Photo credit Duane Brown, Toronto, Canada
Tags: Canvas Art, graffiti art, graffiti on canvas, Street art
