For me, one of the highlights of my trip to Amsterdam was a visit to STRAAT, the museum dedicated to graffiti and street art. STRAAT exists in an old shipyard building on the NDSM wharf on the north bank of the Amstel river a short free ferry ride from the Central Station.
Is it still street art when it’s indoors and not on the street, the STRAAT curators think it is and I agree with them, the exhibition space, laid out like an urban environment gives the artists the opportunity to create large-scale pieces, happy in the knowledge that they will remain as they intend without the threat of being spoiled by being painted over or covered by tags etc.
The current exhibition we saw was of more than 150 pieces by more than 130 artists. These pieces were created on-site and almost all are as big as outdoor walls. They also provided the added value of context and information. It was good to see works from many famous artists and to discover new artists whose works impressed me, I enjoyed seeing large-scale works by some of my favourite artists such as Dan Kitchener, Balstrom, Alice Pasquini, Guido Van Helten, Inkie, Kobra, and many others.
The area outside the building can be considered a ‘legal wall’ and there was a lot of good work on display there. All in all, this is a great way to spend a day in Amsterdam, great artwork in an unusual setting with friendly staff who are only too willing to chat about the exhibits, and the cafe was pretty good too.
I will resist the temptation to edit or crop my photographs too much and show them here as I took them, this will help to highlight the scale and layout of STRAAT, I will make the pieces and the artists and when they were created.
Fin DAC – Yuansu – 2017Bounce – Feeling Jumpy – 2016Bartkore – My style has no father – 2017Millo – untitled – 2017Welin – Untitled – 2018DavidL – Bob is Crazy! – 2021Klaas Lageweg – Raw Beauty – 2017Davor – Even Flow – 2016Phibs – Untitled – 2016Osch David vs Goliath – 2016Jeffrey Cheung – Dance – 2018A squid called Sebastian – Hunter – Hunted -2017Pso Man – Fallin’ apart – 2017Eddie Colla – The residue of arrogance – 2017Kram – Life – 2016FAKE – Super Nurse – 2020Nasca Uno – Untitled – 2017Tymon de Laat – Cubana contemporanea – 2020Sipros – The big ears old school dolls – 2017Pure Evil – Untitled – 2021Tankpetrol – Old rocking chair – 2017Nasca Uno – My spirits, my friends – 2020Jenny Sharaf – Untitled – 2019Guido de Boer – Untitled – 2020Joren Joshua – Break – 2020Erin Yoshi – Wisdom Keeper – 2016Bijdevleet – Nothing is Original – 2020
The Upper Level
Please excuse the quality of some of these images, I wish there was access to a cherry picker that day.
Milu Correch – Gloden Coin – 2015Carl Kenz – Yin & Yang – 2020Joram Roukes – Anatomical study – 2020Paola Delfin – Connection *2 (Motion) – 2016Ekundayo – The weight of transformation – 2017Steve Locatelli – SKL 16 – 2016Malakkai – The trip we don’t want to do – 2016Alex Face – A win-win situation – 2017Bonzai – One Liquid Chrome – 2016Binho Ribeiro – Amsterdam floating dreams – 2018Seyb – Pink Whale – 2016Uno Nueve – Mantas CĂ³smicas – 2017Cix -My Death Dream – 2017David Walker – Untitles – 2017EOIN – Untitled Fire – 2016Dvate – Bluey – 2017Dourone – 1+1=3 – 2015DERM – DERM’s roadkill – 2017Astro – Perpetual lozenge – 2017Nomad Clan – XXX – 2017Phibs – Untitled – 2016Vesod – Appollo – 2017Adele Renault – Gutter Paradise – 2016Kool Koor – Past present past – 2016Guido van Helten – Untitled – 2017Nils Westergard – Meredith(Stare) – 2016
Jim's travels 