street art Archives • Cook the Beans

Vilnius street art

Checking out the street art is an absolute must when travelling through Lithuania and visiting the capital city Vilnius.

Art scene

The streets of Vilnius are dotted all over with amazing pieces of art. Although the city has plenty to see you need to know where to go. There is a map here with the most famous ones.

Even in Vilnius Old Town, you can find small stickers, stencils and graffiti.

from post-industrial quarter to open-air gallery

You can’t miss the Open Gallery in Vilnius a long-term interdisciplinary project and cultural initiative, located in the post-industrial district Naujamiestis.

Here you will find lots of creative projects such as paintings on the factory walls, installations, sculptures, performances, etc.

The spread of art in Vilnius doesn‘t stop with the Open Gallery, new murals keep appearing around the city.

Užupis, Vilnius’s bohemian heart

The small bohemian republic called Užupis with its own constitution and special independence day has lots of colourful street art to be found. Most work is concentrated by the Vilnia River.

Have you been to Vilnius? Did you see any of the eye-catching street art? What’s your favourite street art city?

Kyiv, Ukraine‘s capital city is getting in the spotlight as the Eastern European cultural hotspot since 2014. Kiev today has a vibrant art scene, it’s home not only to numerous exhibitions, performances and premieres but also to street art.

And you ask what as happened in 2014? Well, since then a number of large murals began appearing on the facades of old Soviet buildings.

Nowadays, the city hosts over 160 pieces of public art produced by talented painters or graffiti artists from Ukraine and other countries such as Spain, Portugal, Argentina and Australia. Not many places can compare to Kiev in terms of the scale and volume of huge murals.

What is really cool about exploring the city through its murals, is that you will go to places that otherwise you wouldn’t since the murals are often hidden in lesser-known parts of the city.

The street art scene in Kiev is creative, big, bold, unexpected, and colourful ‘decorating’ the urban landscape perfectly.

A Self-Guided Walking Tour

The Ukrainian capital aims to position itself on the world’s street-art scene, with monumental murals cover the walls of Kyiv.

The Street Art can be found all over the city, so time is definitely required. To help you with your treasure hunting expedition there are some great resources.

Kyiv Street Art Resources

Kyiv Murals is a great up-to-date App which pinpoints murals near you. The app it’s free and includes a map of all the street art in Kyiv, with information on the artists and the meaning.

Kyiv Murals is a website with the GPS locations of almost all of Kyiv’s street art.

Kiev Off the Beaten Track!

Making your own Street Art tour is a great way to go off the beaten tourist path and discover a lesser-known side of Kiev.

You will find a bit of everything from portraits, landscapes to abstract art – hidden on the walls of the city.

Kiev’s murals are, indeed, breathtaking and well worth of exploring while visiting the capital city of Ukraine. Expect Kiev to be like a big open-air Art Gallery.

So don’t miss out and explore and discover the colourful Kiev Murals.

Location Map

Which city is your favourite for street art? Let me know so I can make sure to check it out!

Yogyakarta’s street art

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Yogyakarta, or Jogja, is a hub for culture and arts in Indonesia, and hands down one of my favourite cities in Indonesia.

First, because it’s full of art, culture, music, great vegan food, friendly people and has a great vibe that I found hard to find elsewhere in Indonesia.

Jogja is mostly known for its fine art scene, but not surprisingly, the cultural centre is also a bastion for street art activity. Here wherever you roam, you will stumble upon incredible street art that is brightening up streets and neighbourhoods.

Yogyakarta’s street art makes this charming city feel even more unique. You can find work of artists like Digie Sigit DS13 and Anti Tank Project. Both artists are using their painting to express their opinion on the social and political environment of their city.

The Jogja street art scene, along with the numerous contemporary art galleries in the city, makes Yogyakarta an absolute must-visit for any art lover travelling to Java.

To get a good overview of Yogyakarta’s street art scene, you will need at least a couple days in the city.

Have a look at the photos and get inspired by this small fraction of what Jogja has to offer, and let me know what you think of the street art in Yogyakarta.

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Street art in Marseille

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Street art in Marseille

In the quartier of Cour Julien and the in the quartier of Le Panier walls are extravagantly painted for everyone to decipher and enjoy.

Both are wonderful areas with loads of quirky stores, cafes, restaurants, bars, and colourful street art and graffiti covering most of the facades.

Make sure you have the time to explore it!

Marseille is a real treat for street art lovers, hope you have enjoyed this small gallery.

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Street Art – George Town, Penang

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Street art is for sure one of the big highlights in George Town, and stroll through different streets hunting for art, can be actually pretty fun. George Town is located in the North East of Penang, and along with Melaka is since 2008 a UNESCO World Heritage site.

George Town displays huge murals that adorne sides of buildings, interactive art installations that allows visitors to insert themselves into the scenes, and wrought iron structures, that tells the history of various streets, quality of life and historical facts about the city in a amusing way. Basically the street art in Penang is an art lover’s dream! The street art makes the city more interesting and impossible to forget.

There are almost a dozen of murals done by the amazing Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic (facebook.com/Ernestzachas), that was commissioned to do a series of public paintings in central George Town for the 2012 George Town Festival. Unfortunately some pieces are already fading and soon they might disappear.

All of this add to the city’s architecture, traditional crafts and food, are more than enough reasons to visit and fall in love by Penang. Most of the art is focused in the Old George town Streets. If you’re serious about catching them all here’s a map of where to find the murals and caricatures.

Bare in mind that walking around trying to find the street art in Georgetown is an amazing free activity. But renting a bike is also an option.

I will leave here some pictures of what I found around the city… Let me know if you have been to Penang and which is your favourite piece..

IPOH Old Town and New Town

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We traveled from Kuala Perlis to Ipho (state capital of Perak) by bus (29RM) and arrived at the terminal Amanjaya at 22pm so there wasn’t any transports (despite the taxi) to take us to Ipoh’s old town. So we stayed for the night at a nearby ‘hotel’. In the next morning we got a bus (2.5RM) and we were instantly surprised with this lovely town, that has definitely some similarities to George Town (in Penang), one of my favourite cities in Malaysia.

We stayed for 2 days what was enough to visit and feel the city but not enough to visit the surrounding areas.

Ipoh has a special vibe, great historic buildings, lots of street art and really great food. So, should be a mandatory stop for any itinerary in Malaysia.

Ipoh old town doesn’t look to have many tourists or even many locals walking around, despite being laid back, it’s also creative, trendy and full of things to see and try, like the famous White Coffee.

Ipoh centre is split in two, the old town on the west and the new town on the east side of the Kinta River .

In the old town you can do the Heritage Trail (4 miles) and the Street Art walk, for both you can grab a free map, and just lose yourself… The street art makes it even more interesting to explore the historical city, and it’s fairly easy to find it. Most of the murals belong to the famous street artist Ernest Zacharevic and some other locals.

You can’t miss the Kong Heng square market, an old building full of vine covered ruins occupied now by modern stalls.

Ipoh’s Little India with it’s colourful shops, spices, music and eateries, and the new town on the East side of the river.

The New Town has the best eateries and some more street art, so make sure you don’t miss the Mural Art Lane, that is completely covered in murals showing the Malaysian culture.