Street art appeared in Belgrade just a few years ago, but soon it became mainstream - widely accepted among the lovers of this art form and art in general. In the early 2000s, artists started painting graffiti and murals at various locations across the city (the most popular was the wall surrounding the Serbian Oil Company storage opposite Ada Ciganlija). However, during the last five to six years, stencil technique and stickers became highly popular and consequently artists using those techniques received more publicity, and their works were presented at various exhibitions, workshops and in books about street-art in Belgrade, and even at some international exhibitions (Berlin, June 2012).
A brief history of street art
The beginning of the street art was not so simple and easy because it was often confronted with the lack of understanding of the community and the city authorities. Besides, many of the early works were repainted with works of other street artists who obviously had no respect for their colleagues. Surfaces used for street art include old neglected buildings, abandoned entrances, street poles, pavements, moreover you can also see them on new and well-kept buildings, including the official state institutions.
Street art deals with various subject matters such as politics, social issues, criticism or sometimes presents a personal attitude towards a certain issue. The main goal of the artists is to draw attention and provoke people to share their opinion about the work - whether positive or negative.
Street art gallery
Belgrade is slowly turning into large street art gallery with the number of murals and stencils growing bigger day after day. You will notice it almost everywhere in the city, in building hallways, school yards, on numerous walls and in passages.