It's wonderful how art can change a city into something fun to look at, like giving life to an object or situation. Take a look at the following works of street art and you'll be amazed!
Find what was already there
Look for a wall edge, fixture or architectural shape that becomes part of the artwork. Then imagine the painting on a blank canvas instead. The difference reveals how much of the idea comes from responding to a particular place.
For street art that works directly with existing fixtures, explore Tom Bob Turns Street Fixtures Into Playful Art.
The setting can supply half the idea
A painting on a street has a relationship with things a framed picture can leave outside: corners, pipes, doors, passing people and the distance from which it is seen. When an artist incorporates an existing feature, the place becomes part of the composition. Moving the same design elsewhere may change the joke or remove the detail that made it work.
This is a useful distinction between a striking image placed on a wall and an image conceived for that particular wall. Both can be interesting. The second asks us to pay attention to features of the street that usually disappear into the background.
Make a paper proposal for an ordinary detail
Choose a harmless feature to sketch from a public place, such as the outline of a door or a row of windows. Draw it three times on paper. In one version, keep it realistic. In the next, turn it into part of an imagined creature. In the third, use it to suggest a different scale, as though the building were a small object.
The exercise needs no paint and no alteration of someone else's property. Its purpose is to practice noticing how an existing shape can suggest several ideas.
If you photograph public artwork, make one close view and one view that includes the surroundings, where permitted. Keep any visible artist credit with the image. A location photograph can explain the work's relationship to the street, while the close view preserves the detail that first caught your attention. Together they tell a more complete story than either view alone.
For another way viewpoint changes a familiar scene, explore Surreal Photographs and Optical Illusions: A Closer Look.
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