I saw the Wall, Neues Museum & other usual tourist attractions. But what about street art? It’s barely mentioned in tourist guides even if there are a lot of “pieces” in Berlin. Some were easy to find, other discoveries needed some climbing and jumping but hey, this is an urban safari after all!

In this article I decided to focus on “local” artist even if the city is filled with art made by the most famous international artists like Dolk, El Tono, Swoon, TLP, C215, Neozoon, Rowdy, M-City, Rero, Blu, Shepard Fairey, Muga, YZ open your eyes, Armsrock, Mr. André, Primo, Invader, Swoon, Os Gemeos, Victor Ash, Romero, 1010 crew, Sam3 vs Dave the Chimp, the Dude Company, Roa, Flix, Pure Evil, Miss Van, Above, … (see picture above)

Alias got introduced to street art at the turn of the millennium while living in Hamburg. Since 2003 he lives in Berlin where he developed his unique street art approach and became a protagonist of a very vital urban art scene. Alias improved his stencil technique over the years and has reached a technical and aesthetic maturity injecting a dose of humor and grim realism in his works (to be found especially in districts such as Friedrichshain or Kreuzberg)

Bimer’s bear is one of the most noticeable street art characters in Berlin’s graffiti scene. The sometimes angry or sad looking bear is Bimer’s own version of the city’s icon. By adding comments in “Berliner Schnauze” street-slang, he expresses his view on the changes that are taking place in the capital.

The most famous piece by Bonk! is his R.P. Mac-Bonk! stencil - a large-scale portrait of a young Jack Nicholson from the classic “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest“. Like most of Bonk!’s works this stencil captivates the viewer with its excellent graphic translation and its capability to express the essence of the whole film in one image.

Boxi was born 1974 in Kent, England. He completed his studies at the London Central St. Martins college of art & design with a BA Fine Arts degree in painting in 1996. Boxi lives in Berlin since 2000 and uses multi-layered stencils giving a realistic aspects to his work.

There’s not a whole lot of information out there on the street artist known as Bronco. We do know that he harnesses the simple power of words to get a point across instead of using or remixing imagery. Bronco uses wheat pasted posters, stencils and even old school plastic labeling tape to drop messages into the public domain.

El Bocho is a Berlin based artist. He has been working on the streets since 1997 and is currently amongst the most famous and visible street artists in Berlin. Communication and references to urban life are the main components of his work. El Bocho considers himself as an observed observer. It is important for him to work outside the art scene to reach an audience that does not visit art specific locations like galleries or museums. El Bocho picks up the reactions of the viewers and uses them in his works. This creates a constant flow of communication with the public. El Bocho has appeared in various national or international books, magazines, newspapers, exhibitions and tv shows.

El Bocho at stattbad Wedding where the second edition of “Urban Art Affairs” took place this year. Probably one of the biggest tape art installation in the world.

Emess is undertaking a very personal exploratory expedition investigating the possibilities of creation and the impact of public spaces. Within his project he is always looking for new challenges and ways to transform things.

For more than five years Just has been working on the streets. He knows his playground and the protagonists of that scene are his friends. If you check high buildings in Berlin you will see the word “Just” a lot. He is also a respected photographer of the graffiti and street art movement in Berlin.

Kripoe is one of the most famous writers in Berlin, especially his yellow fists are everywhere. He belonged to Berlin’s CBS (Cowboys Crew). Formed in 1995, CBS transformed Berlin with posters, stickers and graffiti art. Most of their art was to mock the local electoral campaigns by stating that people should “Elect CBS”. In 2005 a symbolic funeral was held for the death of the CBS crew. It’s good to see the resurrection of one of its members. Kripoe’s yellow fists appears to be a rebellion against the advertising overload.

Loaf comes from South America and lives now in Berlin. Like most street artists, he tries to reclaim the city and questions his environment. His work is a subtle communication with everyday citizens about socially relevant themes.

Life, with all its ups and downs, serves as a inspiration for Mymo’s work, and the artist’s monsters communicate the entire spectrum of human emotions.

Nomad developed his expressionist style through interactive projects in interior and exterior spaces: combining writing and street art with poetry and classical painting.

The idea with pap-art is the perishability of the works. Papa la pap uses recycled cardboard from boxes and makes funny 3D figures with it.

The differences of style between Sam Crew‘s members (Leps, Kid Kyuss, Hope, & John Reaktor) are astonishing but monkeys are never far away…

Born in Normandy (France), SP 38 calls himself a prisoner of Berlin since 1995. He uses only four colors (blue, yellow, red & blue) for more simples messages, for more urban poetry in cities and for more anti-depressive spirit & movement.

Christian “Lake” Wahle is a graffiti artist since 1992. He’s active worldwide and a lot of his work can be found around an old bunker transformed in a climbing tower where he works (Friedrichshain).

XooooX’s background is the classical graffiti. In 1999 he had a job giving him access to a photocopier and began to experiment. Everything in his pockets became photocopied and pasted. Nowadays, Xoooox’s pieces can be spotted thanks to the tags combining X’s and O’s.

Want More?

Where to look for street art ? Mitte - Kreuzberg - Friedrichshain - Prenzlauer Berg
Make sure to visit urbanartguide.com, the Berlin street art pool on flickr and related map

Books: Urban Illustration Berlin: Street Art Cityguide - Street Art in Berlin
Pictures only: Urban Art Berlin - Berlin Street Art - Berlin Street Art 2

Bars: Wendel - Dachkammer
Restaurants: Marienburger - Musashi - Van Hoa
Clubs: Lido - Cassiopea

Texts and pictures by KrieBeL (2009) - complete Berlin set