The Best Food-Themed Graffiti and Street Art We Could Find
With infamous U.K. street artist Banksy causing a ruckus in New York, we've been gazing upon the walls and public spaces of our city (and others) with fascination—and discovering a ton of food-themed street art. Inspired, we combed the Internet for the examples we liked best, then asked some street-art experts for their opinions: the (anonymous) founders of the Street Museum of Art, a collective of artists who have decided the streets will serve as their museum; Roger Gastman of R. Rock Enterprises, a media agency representing many emerging street artists; Alex Emmart, owner of Mighty Takana Gallery, a street-art gallery in Brooklyn; and Hrag Vartanian, editor in chief of Hyperallergic.com, a well-known arts and culture website.
1/7"Wynwood Wall," Miami. Artist: b.
"These childlike and illustrative characters are created through traditional painting techniques that b. brings to the streets. Commenting on a world driven by consumerism, his playful mural for Wynwood Walls is essentially a sea of material wants—filled with money and toys, junk food and sweets." —SMoA (Credit: The Wynwood Walls)
2/7"Lucky Harms," Burlington, VT. Artist: Caper
"Graffiti loves to co-opt the language of comic books and pop culture to make something new. Here the artist has taken an easily recognizable children's cereal and revealed a sinister side of the food industry, namely GMOs. This is classic culture jamming, where the artist takes something easily recognizable and tries to change your perception of the product by inserting a cultural critique." —Hrag Vartanian (Credit: Courtesy of Don Shall)
3/7"Nigiri Sushi," location unknown. Artist: unknown.
"Stickers are a popular way for street artists to convey their brand and message on the street. They can conveniently be made in their studio and slapped onto any wall surface in a matter of seconds (fast enough that the authorities can't catch them). This sushi is heavily influenced by a J-pop aesthetic that values 'kawaii' (cuteness). Why sushi? The answer is probably Why not?" —Hrag Vartanian (Credit: Courtesy of Mark Wallace)
4/7"Angry Hamburger," San Francisco. Artist: Steel
"This San Francisco–based graffiti writer knows his cheeseburgers. Steel's burger-faced characters appear in both the artist's gallery and street work. Through this reoccurring motif, his work becomes recognizable even when the artist does not include his signature Wild Style tag." —SMoA (Credit: Sleazy McCheezy)
5/7"Pie Hard," Bowery, New York City. Artist: Hanksy
“Hanksy gets a lot of hate from people because it’s total satire and totally tongue-in-cheek, but puns in street art are so clever and fun. It's nice to see an artist step away from what a ‘street artist’ is supposed to be. He is bringing humor to the streets.” —Alex Emmart (Credit: Krause Gallery)
6/7"Donut," Fabien Castanier Gallery, Los Angeles. Artist: Tilt
"Using the bright colors and bubble-style lettering of traditional graffiti, Tilt recreates images of American fast food—an interesting comment in the artist's gallery work on graffiti's transition from the subversive act of a vandal to an icon of popular culture.” —SMoA (Credit: Tilt)
7/7"Cheeseburger," Long Island City, NYC. Artist unknown.
"I have a huge collection of what I call pedestrian graffiti, which is art by maybe someone who never has painted before and just wanted to write something. You can tell from the lettering that they are not used to holding the can of spray paint. It’s just so raw and funny, and I think the more pedestrian graffiti the better." —Roger Gastman (Credit: Courtesy of Young Yun)
