5 Artists redefining the concept of Street Art

How much do you love street art? How much do you love innovation? And how much do you love innovation in street art?

Well, if your answer was an enthusiastic “a lot” (and even if it wasn’t) to all of the above, no need to look any further; we have assembled our favorite murals that push the boundaries of creativity and change our perception of street art. Peep the rest of the article for some mind-blowing content.

INSA

Ever heard how the Mona Lisa follows you with her eyes when you stand in front of her? Well, imagine artwork that actually moves; not in myth, but in reality.

British artist INSA starts his art where it usually ends – on technological media. His signature “GiF-iTi” murals are created by photographing each layer, hand-painted by the artist, and then overlaying the pictures to create a looping GIF. Most interesting part? When coming across an INSA mural, the passerby can not only admire the artwork on the wall but can also watch it come to life by downloading the artist’s GiF-iTi app.

INSA has recently broken new records of originality by creating an artwork with a team of 20 and a satellite 431 miles above the earth to create the world’s largest GIF that is delivering all its meaning when seen from the space.

Felipe Pantone

Felipe Pantone has been painting the streets in Spain since he was 12 years old. His kinetic art pieces composed of light spectrum inspired colors and geometrical shapes in movement are quickly capturing the attention of the viewers. The Spanish artist is continuously exploring and pushing the limit between digital art and street art, disregarding the traditional technique and using all the tools that he has in his possession. In the street or for gallery shows, Felipe Pantone is always creating mind-bending artwork: he’s playing with our conception of colors and movement either with static artworks or recently with virtual reality creations.

Thanks to his graffiti background Felipe Pantone is always thinking bigger and bigger. He then has the record of the largest mural in Lisbon and the biggest QR code ever painted. This mural, situated in Hasselt, Belgium, features an enormous and mysterious QR code lying on top of the artist’s signature bursts of color.

“I can take you wherever I want,” says Pantone when asked about the significance of the code.

Onur

Montrealers can proudly say that their city harbors some of the most impressive murals in the world. One that is definitely worth mentioning was created by Swiss artist Onur during (surprise) the fifth edition of MURAL Festival.

Onur’s background as a set artist for theatres is seen in some of his larger-scale works, where he captures moments of everyday life. The artist’s mural in Montreal, which looks like an exploding light bulb painted over a black wall during the day, turns into a GLOWING exploding light bulb at night.

What makes this mural so unique and visually impressive is Onur’s use of fluorescent paint to emphasize the metaphor of the light bulb as a “Vision” (which, by the way, is what the mural is called). If you’re situated in Montreal, check out the dazzling Chinatown-situated mural which is truly a sight for sore eyes.

JR

After receiving the TED prize at the TED conference, French artist and “photograffeur” JR decided to use the award to create a project that assembles people who wish to stand together on an issue they care about.

The project is called Inside Out and involves photobooth trucks. Once participants walk in, an internal camera takes their picture and, within minutes, a black and white 3×5 portrait is printed out for them. The participants are then free to paste it in a public space in their community, thus creating an incredible wall of black and white portraits.

The goal of the project is to keep the momentum of standing together for something going for as long as possible through art.

Hula

Although it’s impressive to see how street art merges with urban scenery, it is even more impressive to watch it become one with nature; emphasizing and blending in with the elements instead of overshadowing them.

Sean Yoro, professionally known as HULA, is a self-taught contemporary artist who extraordinarily incorporates his artwork into nature, and not vice-versa. His mural “Huna” is painted on a pier in Saint-John, New Brunswick, and shows the extreme 28ft of tidal changes that happen every six hours in the city.

“Huna” is the portrait of a woman that one can only see when the water is completely out of the bay. You can only see her hands until she emerges fully, revealing a mural that covers almost three stories of concrete. Then, as the tide comes back, she is once again taken over by the ocean.

Watch this inspiring video showing HULA in full action, overcoming and embracing nature for his art.