Behind the Paint Cans: Austin Street Art

Guest article by Gino Barasa for The Austinot.

It’s five in the morning and I’m somewhere off 51st Street with Austin’s most dangerous street artists.

Well, not exactly. It’s is really early and I amwatching some of Austin’s finest street artists do their thing, but they aren’t actually very dangerous. In fact, they’re really a bunch of easy going guys who happen to be amazingly talented artists.

The Austin street art scene has become a growing and visceral part of the city’s overall vibe. If the music scene is the 2000 pound gorilla of Austin’s cultural landscape, then the street art community is its little brother. A little brother that is growing up fast.

All over midtown and across the east side, massive and beautiful murals spring up overnight on a weekly–and sometimes daily–basis. On barren walls and dumpsters, across busted fences and back alley doorways, these rattle can warriors are turning the mundane into the marvelous. From colorful and fantastic creatures to politically charged imagery, the street art of Austin is always cause to stop and admire the imagination behind the work.