Urban Art For Sale

If you’re looking to grow a photography collection, then the work of Reed Hearne is a good place to start. This American photographer often takes street scenes as his primary subject, shifting perspectives from a bird’s eye view to street level. His photos often tend towards abstraction, with geometric shapes and textures that obscure the image and create a sense of intrigue.

Neil Horsefield is a contemporary fine artist whose portrayals of everyday life are at once unique and easy to identify oneself with. His paintings focus on shifting perspectives, portrayed with a muted colour palette that creates an interesting atmosphere.

For an artist who satirises popular culture in the same vein as Banksy, take a look at Zoe Moss. Exhibiting works in galleries such as The Saatchi Gallery and Cork Street Gallery, Moss creates tongue-in-cheek illustrations of popular figures to critique modern society. Her work is a perfect example of the subversive power of urban art and its importance in the modern age.

A breif history of urban art

Urban art is a broad descriptor that can be applied to many different art forms and mediums. Often, it’s used to refer to street art and graffiti, but its scope is not limited to this. Urban art may also be work that draws inspiration from urban lifestyles or architecture, whether that’s street photography or paintings of skyscrapers.

While it’s easy to believe that street art and graffiti are a modern invention, they’ve actually been around as long as streets themselves. Ancient ruins of Egypt, Rome and Greece have all revealed scrawls across the walls, revealing the underside of these societies. But when it comes to the origins of modern urban art, it’s difficult to pinpoint an exact starting point. What is clear to see, however, are the pioneers who have popularised the urban style and brought it to the masses, influencing other artists along the way.

Banksy’s iconic street art murals are a huge part of why urban art is so popular today. Popping up in public spaces all across the UK and the world, Banksy’s art is politically charged and thought-provoking. Take his famous Love is in the Air (Flower Thrower) for example, which was painted on Jerusalem’s West Bank barrier wall in support of Palestinian rights. These attempts to question the status quo are central to street art, as can also be seen in the work of British painter Adam Neate. Using recycled cardboard as his canvas, Neate creates paintings that highlight the difficulties of living in a modern, urban environment.