Best of April ’23: most popular murals of april.

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Street Art Cities

8 min readJun 1, 2023

Yo yo yo, here we are again with our ‘best of ‘ selection for april 2023. Another global selection from all four corners of the world with this month 2 Dutchies in the top 10 and a very special nr 1. Keep an eye out on our IG feed where we show the best art from around the world. Don’t be afraid and tag us when you created something new and maybe you’ll end up in our best of selection in the future. Here’s some numbers of our last voting: over 60.000 people saw our stories and a staggering 30% voted! Our inbox got flooded with support messages and positive feedback of people loving it. And the top 3 are automatically clinched their ‘best of 2023" spot in January and the winner gets a feature in Graffiti Art Magazine.

#1: Sea162 in Garcibuey ES

more info here

Our nr 1 this month is very special, ‘El tritón Miguelón’ is one of the largest artworks in Europe located in Garcibuey , a very small town in Salamanca (250 km east of Madrid). Created in a pond built during the post-war period when the first irrigation community in the municipality was created. Sea162 worked for 9 nine days (between 12 & 14 hours). The artist had the time of his life, the support from the local community was unseen. One day 14 year old Javier volunteered to help out Sea and his assistent and he turned out to be the best intern ever.

#2: Roos Art in Doetinchem NL

Dutch RoosArt fell into prizes twice: she was awarded with the ‘people fan favorite’ award at the Dutch Street Art Awards and her “The Lantern lighter” just fell short of our #1 spot. Her mural in Doetinchem, near the Germa border, pays tribute to an old craft that brought light to the darkness. “A mural is a nice way of telling stories, and certainly when you can learn something.”: shares artist Rosalie. The lantern lighter was employed by the municipality and provided lighting in the city center of Doetinchem. With his matchstick he went down the lampposts with a ladder.

#3 Lula Goce In Ramollas ES

The overwhelming beauty of the ‘Dona do Esteiro’ already floods the urban center of Ramallosa, a small town just south of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. This natural ‘miracle’ with a female face, adorned with herons, flowers, the sea and plants is the work of the international artist from Bayonne Lula Goce. After three weeks painting the mural is the final result impresses the neighborhood for its beauty and its ability to transfigure places.
This mother nature takes care of its environment and nourishes it so that the rest of living beings can live in balance. That includes us, for what we have and must take care of our environment and with it ourselves. Lula’s latest mural is a tribute to her mother, her strength and perseverance.

#4 Martin Ron in Buenos Aires ARG

“Olivia en la ciudad” is Martin Ron’s latest exploit in his homecountry before heading on a Europe trip. Martin likes to think that his work is not just a simple layer of paint on the wall. In this house we see Olivia peeking through a large box, a reminder that sometimes, freedom and personal fulfillment, can only be achieved if one minimally steps out of his comfort zone. It’s an invitation to take risks and seek new ways to express and grow.
That’s why we should never stop looking for new experiences and adventures, no matter how big or small they are.

#5 Julián Cruz Solano in Cochabamba BOL

First time we heard of Cochabamba in Bolivia, let alone know any urban art! But the we discovered BAU — Bienal de Arte Urbano. Apparently they’ve been working since 2011, their mission is to promote, through action and art, a requalification and development of the mentioned area, whose starting point refers us to the historic center of Cochabamba. This is due to the fact that currently “Villa Coronilla” experiences a situation of abandonment and neglect in aspects of urban planning, patrimonial care and another series of factors that have influenced the generalization of a negative social imaginary that falls daily on its inhabitants. So glad we dscovered this ne Street Art City.

#6 Albert Bonet in Riba-roja d’Ebre ES

The title of this mural is “Santa Agda”, local patroness, and is inspired by “La maja nua” by Francisco de Goya, it includes the pop icon Hello Kitty, the artist’s personal stamp, and the face of the young woman who it appears is the actress Asia Ortega, known in the territory for her appearance in the TV3 series “Les de l’hoquei”. This is the second mural by Albert Bonet

#7 Sidney Waerts in Leeuwarden NL

The mural is a reminder of the local community, several hundred Indisch and a few Moluccan families settled in Leeuwarden, especially in the 1950s and early 1960s. They left their birthcountry, the former Dutch East Indies and/or Indonesia, as a result of the rapidly changing circumstances there. However, it is mainly a tribute to those who were forced to leave behind their belongings and sometimes even relatives. These people had to build a new life in a completely new country, with a different culture and a different climate. Sidney Waerts was suggested by local street art organisation Writersblock Murals and got assistance by Senne Weijsters, an upcoming local talent active in Writersblock talent development program.

#8 Cain Ferreras in Siruela ES

Cain Ferreras mural that makes us travel to our past, remembering our grandmothers embroidery behind the door and, at the same time, takes us to our immediate present, when a numerous group of seamstresses got to work to help the health staff. That transmission of knowledge between generations was vital in the midst of a pandemic. Another “Muro Critico” project in Extremadura.

#9 Ricardo Romero in Valdastillas ES

The ‘Muro Critico’ project invited Portugese Ricardo Romero to Valdastillas. The project aims to romote dialogue between art, awareness and the rural environment. After 7 years you can find over 100 murals in 60 towns. Ricardo used a Vivian Mayer photograph as reference point to saerch for the duality and the thin line between the present and the past. “This look that searches for us through the image might be the past observing or the future waiting in an oniric reference to the power of dreams not only as a final destination but as a drawn path. Choosing this image defers to this ambiguity, to a certain digression that depends a bit on our imagination and dreamy side, on our childish look in a search of a meaning and a way. It tries to tell a story, many times determined by the one observing.”: shares Ricardo

#10 Seca and Aylo in Kirkham UK

This mural was commissioned by @fyldecouncil as part of the regeneration programme. Painted with partner in crime @aylo_nomad who is also the wizard that put the design together.
This mural was designed in collaboration with the local community over the past 12 months. We held workshops and community engagement days, collected stories and rummaged through archives. Finally deciding on this design, which nods to kirkhams past. It’s made up of the Kirkham Roman heritage, Sail industry and boss from the first Roman shield ever found in the UK.

Runners up: the other final nominees from spot 11 to 25

With this “BEST OF” series Street Art Cities aims to promote urban art from all over the world. Instead of selecting a top 10 ourselves, forcing to make though choices, we look at our community. Every month we preselect 100 fresh and new murals and leave it to our audience to decide.

It’s about sharing the latest urban art in 1 place, because the IG algorythm makes it hard to keep track of new work. And we don’t want you to miss a thing. Plus we love to share some new, fresh talents with you, so please show these extremely talented artists some insta💓 and check ’em out. We’ll be back with our next “BEST OF” IG polls real soon.

Do you want your artwork on our shortlist next month, tag us on Instagram or shoot us a DM and maybe your work ends up in next month’s “best of”. Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram.

Street Art Cities is the biggest global street art database on a mission to promote and document all urban art in the world, thanks to our hunter community we’re active in more then 1000 cities and with over 40.000 artworks we’re one of the fastest growing street art platforms of the moment. We also assist our partner cities in their mission to promote their open air museum to our audience. Interested in our services, take a look at our page or send us a message.

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