Have you seen our Instagram-page? On a daily basis, we share pictures from the newest street artworks, golden oldies, and stunning murals. We couldn’t do that without our dedicated team of Instagrammers! They are constantly spotting new pieces, sharing them with us and the world. Get to know them better with our Instagrammer Q&A and by their favorite works.
.Name: Lewis.
.Instagram:Nogreywalls.
.Street art spotter since: 2015.
.Tools: Nikon D3400
When did you start street art spotting?
I must have started ‘officially’ when I moved to Barcelona in 2015. It’s something I was always interested in and sometimes took photos of from my very first trips out of Scotland. I just don’t think I knew what to do with it from a documentation or memory perspective at the time.
This piece by Smugone in Glasgow is one of those that I had seen so often on Instagram I felt like I was the only person in the world not to have seen it! The level of realism is just so high and it really was worth the long long wait to see! Check the Scottish weather too!
With what kind of camera do you take the pictures?
I have a Nikon D3400 like Gijzh, maybe it’s about time Nikon sponsored us or something with all this free press! Unlike him, I don’t have a wide-angle lens which definitely causes problems sometimes, narrow streets and all that. I also use my mobile for smaller things like stickers and paste-ups. I dropped it recently however and there’s a crack just to the side of the lens. Now in certain lights, it adds a weird blur on the side of the photo. So safe to say it’s not getting used much right now.
I took a 2-hour train ride to see this piece from SAV45. That’s commitment for you! This was the first abandoned building that I checked out on my own and it didn’t disappoint. There were a few old but still amazing pieces hidden around the place. I’ve found some of SAV45’s work in the strangest of places.
What is your first street art memory?
My first street art memory probably should be something from an earlier trip but I’ll have to say my first few visits to Barcelona on holiday. Every time I visited (usually for music festivals) I would find so many painted doors and paste-ups and tags. They would literally be on every single street. Amazingly I still see some of the same pieces when walking around the city now.
DavidL and Jay Bisual are two of my favorite artists in Barcelona. This was the first-ever abandoned building I went hunting in. I didn’t have any expectations over what I would find. I certainly didn’t expect to find a collaboration between these two! You should have seen my excitement, I really should contain it on such creaky floors!
What is your weirdest street art memory?
Probably all the pieces I’ve found in abandoned buildings. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea to go in a car for two hours just to walk around a dilapidated building. But for me, I find some of the most amazing art in these buildings. Some of it by really really big name artists too. Gotta watch out for those dynamite sticks on the floor tho 🙂
This collaborative piece from Nils & Joachim is just special. I don’t even need to explain why I like it, just look at it! My guide in Antwerp, Tim Marschang adores this piece too, it’s so easy to see why.
Do you have your own (illegal) experience doing street art?
Yeah, I’ve done a few stencils and bits around Barcelona. Just a few small pieces. It was really fun and gave me a real buzz to do this, especially painting on the side of a council building in the middle of the day! I definitely understand why artists crave it so much! It’s something I’d like to do more of.
What kind of feeling does street art give you?
Street art gives me a feeling of energy mostly. It’s almost like a drug, needing that fix of seeing what’s going on in the city and having to get off my ass and go walk around and explore! It’s a hard feeling to explain really but I get a real buzz when finding unexpected pieces on the streets or in some of these abandoned places. I think that street art is a really positive thing in so many ways.
Astro‘s work is just silly, isn’t it! I mean how can you visualize this, never mind paint it and on such a huge scale too! This was the first of Astro’s pieces that I had seen in person and it still blows my mind to this day.
Do you secretly stalk an artist?
No, no stalking of any artists here. I’ll save that for @ranndomized. She knows what I am talking about! Most of the artists in Barcelona are easily accessible anyway and after meeting & taking photos of some big names at various festivals the fanboy thing kinda wears off I guess.
For more great street art pictures, follow Nogreywalls on his Instagram.