Belfast Street Art 2022

Belfast had, by far, the most vibrant street art scene I came across during my trip to Northern Ireland, aided by my mate Jim, we wandered the streets, lanes, entries and closes of the city and discovered many gems, stopping often to dry out a bit and to sample the Guinness in many of the bars we found on our way. Where possible I have named the piece and the artist in the captions are, however many are unsigned. I’m sure there are a great deal more that I could have seen, that gives me an excuse to go back some other time. One thing I did like was The Calling, which is an outdoor sculpture by Paddy McCann located at the junction of Gordon Street and Dunbar Junction, it consists of a bright red stylised male figure calling into the distance while standing on an ordinary chair atop an extended (and angled) piston-like lampost. A similarly mounted blue female figure, opposite, calls back across the square. It was good to see fine pieces by SMUG, Conzo & Glöbel, and ROGUEONE in Belfast, they made me feel at home.

Small Pieces & Utility Electrical boxes

In addition to the large murals shown above I also found many small pieces dotted around the city, a couple of which are shown below, I especially liked those by Peter Strain, Peter is a Belfast-based illustrator who created several illustrations for the Harry Potter series. The city is also boasting some colourful new street art thanks to a council-backed project to give utility boxes in the area a makeover.