Photo gallery: The incredible street art of Porto, Portugal

(Simon Chubb)

(Simon Chubb)

(Simon Chubb)

Street art can take on a political slant – this striking piece depicts the fall of the United States of America with a girl dressed in the Stars and Stripes, looking at a fallen Statue of Liberty.

(Simon Chubb)

This artwork is part of a local project to commemorate some of the local residents. The lady depicted was always very well dressed and used to grow the most incredible rose bushes.

(Simon Chubb)

Other pieces take aim at famous people; this one shows displeasure at footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and his golden balls.

(Simon Chubb)

Guaté Mao stencil, Porto (Simon Chubb)

Guaté Mao stencil, Porto (Simon Chubb)

There are many different ways in which street art is created, from freehand paints and aerosols – which are the most common – to intricate stencils such as the two above from French street artist Guaté Mao.

A more unusual method is that shown by international artist Vhils who has removed the white plaster of the building to create this artwork below. He often uses explosives to achieve this effect!

Alexandre Farto aka Vhils’ unique style where he removes material to create his pieces (Simon Chubb)

Daniel Eime’s mural to the dictator’s victims (Simon Chubb)

Kalif’s visualisaton of Porto’s hills as levels in Mario (Simon Chubb)

(Simon Chubb)

(Simon Chubb)

Street art can depict serious subjects or the more whimsical and surreal aspects of life. The piece in the top two images shows a large stencilled mural by Daniel Eime which depicts the older generation that suffered in silence during the dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar from 1932 through to 1968. Whilst the bottom two show how street artist Kalif visualises Porto’s steep hills as different levels in the Mario computer games.

Porto native Costah’s colourful cartoon style (Simon Chubb)

The faceless Madonna is a common subject for street artist Hazul Luzah (Simon Chubb)

Styles vary hugely from artist to artist as the above two images show. Porto native artist and tattooist Costah is well known for his colourful cartoon style, while international artist Hazul uses secondary shading to give the image a real 3-D feel.

(Simon Chubb)

A local piece marking an old crocodile leather workshop (Simon Chubb)

Street art often uses street furniture to add elements, in this case diving into the bin (Simon Chubb)

A large Hazul Luzah mural (Simon Chubb)

The largest Hazul Luzah mural in Porto (at the time of writing!), it’s easy to pick out common subjects, including the faceless Madonna, the tao symbol and various other ancient symbolic imagery. All with Hazul’s typical 3-D feel.

Costah’s cartoon style continues with this Top Cat character (Simon Chubb)

Kuhl Kid is a German street artist who just paints cows (Simon Chubb)

Another Hazul Luzah mural (Simon Chubb)

This mural, just behind the São Bento train station shows Hazul’s love of symbolism, including the trident, ancient fertility symbols and Hazul’s trademark 3-D style.

Huge artwork by Portuguese Frederico Draw (Simon Chubb)

There is a lot of information on the web about the ever-changing street art scene, not just in Porto. However, key information can be found in: