Banksy’s take on Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” Bristol, April 27.
Graffiti has never been so powerful—or urgent. And, in the case of the famed and elusive Banksy, noble. In the past months of the global coronavirus outbreak, local artists have used the walls and sidewalks of their cities and towns as canvases. As the shutdowns and shelter-in-place orders spread across Italy, Spain, Germany, the U.K., India and the U.S, the Krylon cans came out. Filled with technicolor Covid-19 balls and crowns and faces covered by PPE, these murals exhibit fear and fury, solidarity and hope—and nearly universal gratitude to health care workers.
The pandemic has robbed millions of their livelihoods and ability to touch and hug. But not the desire or defiance to hit the empty pavement to create outdoor art galleries. Here are the fresh arrivals to our streets, ready and waiting for the grand reopening.
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Mural of Steve Jobs in a face mask , Novosibirsk, Russia, May 20.
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Coronavirus-inspired graffiti by Scottish street artist The Rebel Bear, Glaskow, April 4.
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New take on the famous Berlin Wall painting of Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker kissing: Today, Xi Jinping and Donald Trump in face masks, Berlin, April 27.
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Atchoum! — meaning sneeze, Paris, April 20.
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Trumpet master Louis Armstrong wearing protective gloves and face mask, New Orleans, April 24.
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“Super nurse” by Amsterdam-based street artist FAKE, April 24. Graffiti in support of the NHS, London, May 12.
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“Our Nurses Our Saints,” by graffiti artist Bandit, New Orleans, April 3.
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Stencil graffiti of actors John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson In their roles in “Pulp Fiction,” wearing face masks, Madrid, May 3.
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World map affected with cornonavirus, Mumbai, May 3.
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Graffiti artwork showing a man wearing a protective mask.
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Message of Covid-19 love in Brooklyn, May 9.
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Youth wearing a face mask, Mumbai, April 4.
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Dark graffiti themes in Jaipur, April 15, and a railway station, Barcelona, May 11.
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Graffiti on the theme of virus outbreaks in election years, Berlin, March 15.
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