2012 – The best graffiti and street art

Time to look back and see what amazing pieces have been created for our enjoyment on walls across the world. These are just a small selection of the many thousands of original pieces that created yearly. I’m sure it’s becoming more commonplace for large murals to be adorning walls on all major cities on every continent.

Beginning in Cardiff and some random heart balloons taken around the alleyway leading to the Cardiff City Stadium.

Throughout the whole year Enta continued to update her artwork opposite Chapter Arts in Cardiff. I think the weather has been so rubbish that it hasn’t been updated as often as last year!

The shutters of local shops were been brightened up with artwork from local artists in the Canton area of Cardiff.


Local graffiti artists Bagel and company went on a bit of a painting spree in Pontcanna and Canton – paying tribute to Gorf whilst splashing it all over residential and commerical properties.

The ever popular Elm Street legal wall had updates with some cartoon characters and the motto ‘Thats all folks!’ from Cruel Vapours.

Early in February these wonderfully colourful cats started appearing around Roath and Cathays and really brightened up the streets and lanes courtesy of Lembo. The one outside Home Bargains didn’t last long!

Cartoon characters seem to feature quite heavily this year with more appearing around Hailey Park and beyond. Can you name the classic characters shown here?

In March a new event was created called The Biggest Wales Sticker Combo 2012 and resulted in hundreds of well designed stickers being applied to an old garage near The Atrium in Cardiff. Loads of local artists and contributions from further afield too created this interesting tapestry! Another great selection of cats from Lembo too!

In April a visit to New York unearthed this amazing work by Robots Will Kill deep in the industrial part of New York. Just a small selection here!

Moving back to Manhattan Island and walking the streets in various neighbourhoods with loads of great stuff adorning the walls everywhere. What a city of art New York really is! Great to unearth my first Obey and Atak pieces.

And lastly onto the world famous graffiti centre called 5 Pointz in New York. (Rumour is its being shut down, knocked down and turned into flats!) Was great to experience it and see what a wonder it was. On my visit Whitney Houston had just died with a tribute already being blacked ready for the next piece!

Back in the UK and my first visit to the famous (well famous for the setting of umpteen episodes of The Bill and other tv progs) a road that goes under Waterloo Station but doesnt actually go anywhere now! Leake Street has been granted status as a legal graffiti area – and boy has every inch been ‘decorated’!! The road tunnel features also features alot of cartoon characters and pasteups from locals and other artists from aborad.

Next up in the Summer a trip to the ever popular Brick Lane in Shoreditch, London to discover whether it lived upto the hype I’d read about online – oh it didnt disappoint! Around every corner was some amazing piece of street art, whether on a door, a shutter or a whole wall! Totally awe inspiring! (if a little bit creepy the tribute to Whitney Houston!)

In May the Roath and Cathays areas of Cardiff had some new tags to offer, a tribute to MCA and a few more goodies from Lembo including his trademark cat taking pride of place next to the ‘Cardiff Blob Whale’ by Spades. Also prior to The Olympic Games in London and The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee a lot more political art appeared aswell.

Moving onto Las Vegas and a trip to their ‘Art District’ with the flavour of the graffiti being of a Las Vegas and Gambling theme – also a few token cartoon characters too!

In August there was a ‘Last Supper’ themed piece of street art near Temple Meads station in Bristol, UK.

I had not frequented Bristol that much so was intrigued to find out what the Stokes Croft and St Pauls areas of the city had to offer. It was a wealth of amazing street art adorning the high street from famous names like Banksey and a lot of other lesser known names like Sweet Tooth, CK One, Phlegm and Stinkfish! (great names eh?!)

Back in the Williamsburg and Bushwick districts of New York there was the traditional tags, names and characters but also some cat faces and some other striking pieces of art. Everything was really laaarge!

Another trip to Bristol for the Balloon Fiesta and a chance to capture some pieces from the Bedminster side of the river and a few more Banksy’s on the way.

Back in Cardiff and the doors opened on Cardiff’s Fashion Quarter opposite Cardiff Castle sporting some great street art from locals and people further afield!

In October international artist Shepard Fairey came to London as part of his Sound and Vision exhibition – this wasnt just held in an art gallery but at locations around the city aswell.

In November and a new street art venue was launched in Cardiff – The Trackside Studios off Richmond Road. Brightening up a dreary back lane with great faces of the famous – more for you to guess.

Also in this area was a huge display on a curved wall by artist Colour Doomed – words cannot describe how I felt when I discovered this one!

On my travels around the trendy and fashionable area of Shoreditch in London – I kept coming across a certain striking bit of street art adorning many shutters and doors all around the Brick Lane area from an artist and illustrator called Malark.