Unusual sightseeing in Stockholm

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Street art in southern Stockholm

In 2014 Ake visited London and went on a street art tour in East End. That tour was really good and Ake saw much interesting art of very high quality. In the years since then we have from time to time found street art also in other cities. Whenever we on buildings or walls in cities see one piece of art that makes us stop and take a closer look we also scan the adjacent buildings. Because if there is one piece of street art there are often more. In some places they open up several walls for street art. At such locations there are dozens or sometimes even hundreds of artworks to be found. There is one such place in Stockholm, Snösätra in Rågsved.



Rågsved is a quiet suburb in southern Stockholm. In one corner of Rågsved there is a rundown industrial park called Snösätra. It would have been a sad and somewhat scary place if there wasn't for it being a centre for street art. The owners have allowed artists to decorate the buildings with their art. The artworks covering the easily accessible areas have been commissioned by and/or created with the complete support of the owners. The walls which are off the main thoroughfare, on the backside or out of sight, may be used as a canvas by anyone who wishes to express themselves using paint.



I'd like to start by pointing out that street art is not the same as graffiti. The art you can see on the photos in this blog entry is all legal. The men and women who have used spray paint to create what you see in the photos are not vandalizing. The owners are perfectly OK with them being there and with what they do.



Even though this blog entry is about street art, which is not the same as graffiti, we would still like to say a few words about our view on graffiti. Much of the graffiti you can see in the cities we would classify as rubbish and vandalism, not art. A spray painted underground train or a tag on a concrete wall we most of the time find to be only ugly and destructive. We prefer a blank gray concrete wall before an ill made spray painted tag. But there is also good graffiti and the best graffiti is often better than the works of art you find in art galleries. That's when it is more appropriate to use the term street art instead.



It may be argued that graffiti and street art have similar origin. Some of the artists who make street art undoubtedly started their careers by spray painting tags. But they went on from there, developed their skills and today they produce high quality art. The art we saw in Snösätra was for the most part interesting and well executed. Several of artworks were better made and more interesting than much of the art produced by well paid artists.



The most famous creator of street art is Banksy. If you hope to find a Banksy among these photos you can stop looking right now. It would be a waste of time. We are pretty sure that he has never made it to Rågsved. By the way, are we sure that Banksy is a "he"? Banksy is anonymous after all and who says that it's not a woman?



We are not going to write much more because there is no need for that. We will let the photos tell our story for us.

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Photos

Looks like a photo or a mirror
This painting is so good that it actually feels like you are looking directly at the scene through a slightly frosted window

The Terminator
Someone might argue that this is Transformers and not the Terminator. But we have never figured out Transformers so to us it is the Terminator

Comments

[Dancing Dave]

Street Art in Stockholm
What a fantastic collection...superb. Too hard to pick a favourite. Love that the artists have respect for each others work not to tag them or try to superimpose upon them. They all seem to have their own space which may be why they are so beautifully crafted.

[Ake Och Emma]

Obviosly done without competition
Thanks. When they start competing with each other that's when they start painting over each other's work I guess. So perhaps we can conclude that they are not competitive here? /Ake

[Rainyb]

These are Great!! I love street art.

[Ake Och Emma]

Thanks
Thanks. /Ake

[D MJ Binkley]

Wall Art
What a great collection of art. The best I've seen since Berlin.

[Ake Och Emma]

Thanks
Thanks. /Ake

[RENanDREW]

Embracing the Art of urban living!
What a beautiful collection. I especially love it when the artist uses characteristics of the surface to inform the piece - like with the Hulk's muscles here. Generally speaking I prefer organic street art over ones commissioned by councils etc. because you get a truer sense of the real vibe of the street culture of that place... I know someone who photographs the street art of Melbourne and publishes them with geotags to make it easier for street art hunters; but given the transient nature of these works, it's also a great documentation of the changing faces of a city. Thanks for sharing a different face of Stockholm :)