Berlin is known as the street art capital of Europe, and also, the world.  As street art is one of my favorite types of art, I have basically been in heaven walking around taking hundreds of pictures of art and graffiti all over the city.  I also took an organized ‘alternative’ tour of Berlin, that basically went around to places that aren’t tourist sights, but definitely still cool.  And very street art oriented.  Through this tour I was able to get a little information about some of Berlin’s most famous street artists, and was then able to spot a lot more of their artwork afterwards.

My favorite place in Berlin is an alleyway that leads to a small movie theatre.  The walls of this alley are all ‘free walls’ so artists can paint there, with little fear of getting in any type of trouble.  The artwork in this alley changes daily… sometimes, it seems, hourly.  It is dominated by several large murals on one side, while the other is mostly small pieces.
A short bit on some of the Berlin based artists that I enjoy the most:

El Bocho

Too young for love?

El Bocho was far and away my favorite street artist.  He has many different iconic characters around the city.  Of them, my favorite are his Little Lucy cartoons, and his citizens, which are really stylistic portraits of women.  It is really easy to spot his work, as it is usually very different than anything else.  It’s also all over the place, as he is one of the most widely recognized Berlin street artists.

I wish someone hadn’t tried to peel off her face.

This one was really large. Taller than me.

People should not graffiti ontop of work like this. It’s just not right.

Little Lucy is based on a Czech cartoon about a girl that goes on adventures with her cat.  In El Bocho’s work, however, Little Lucy is always finding new and inventive ways to kill her cat.  Kind of like Kenny on South Park.

Kitty kebap

Kitty in the washing machine

Awww… Lucy got Kitty a present!

Poor Kitty…

Sometimes Lucy isn’t even around, but you can tell she’s been there…

Not the microwave….

Bimer

Bimer is famous for painting angry polar bears all over the city.  The polar bears were based on the public’s obsession with Knutt, the baby polar bear that was born at the Berlin zoo a few years ago.  But these polar bears are not happy.

Also, this is the first time on this trip that I have been escorted out by security.  Apparently these polar bears were on private property.

Also, German security gaurds are kind of scary.

XOOX

I really like the stencil work of XOOX.  It´s really stylish, and recognizible.  I also like his subjects, as they often look like beatniks, and hipsters.

bunny ears?

Alias

Alias was another of my favorite artists.  His works were a little more political than XOOX, but still just… cooool.

This was half hiding behind an opened door for most of the times I saw it.

I agree.

Love this.

Robi the Dog

Sadly, I know very little about the artist behind these works, but I really enjoyed seeing them all over the place.

Angry baby.

Poor teddy.