Street art was made to be seen by people who weren't looking for it — on a subway platform, a bridge, the side of a building. Bringing it indoors changes it, but the energy survives. A graffiti or street art print is the quickest way to put some edge into a room that has become too polite.
Three names that shaped the genre
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960–1988). Basquiat started in the late 1970s writing cryptic phrases around Lower Manhattan under the tag SAMO©. Within a few years he was painting on canvas and exhibiting with the leading galleries in New York. His crowns, skulls, heads and crossed-out words carry the look of the street into painting. See our Basquiat collection.
Keith Haring (1958–1990). Haring's first public work was chalk drawings on the black paper covering empty advertising panels in the New York subway, made in the early 1980s — hundreds of them, often drawn in minutes. The dancing figures, barking dogs and radiant babies became his signature. His lines are so simple they work at any size. See our Keith Haring collection.
Banksy. The anonymous artist from Bristol whose stencilled rats, children and police officers have appeared on walls around the world since the 1990s. Girl with Balloon first appeared on London's South Bank in 2002; in 2018 a framed version shredded itself moments after being sold at auction, and the half-shredded result was renamed Love Is in the Bin. Our Banksy collection includes prints inspired by that image.
Cabeza - Jean Michel Basquiat
Girl With Love Balloon - Banksy
DJ - Keith Haring
Don't Frighten Me - Jean Michel Basquiat
Girl With Balloon II - Banksy Inspired
Warrior - Jean Michel Basquiat
The wider graffiti collection also includes street art prints of London and New York walls, graffiti lions and Danii Steinfeldt's Graffiti Shoe It.
How to make it look grown-up
Street art has an obvious home in a teenage room, and it works there. The trick in the rest of the house is contrast. Three rules help:
Put it in a calm room. A Basquiat on a white wall above a linen sofa looks deliberate. The same print in a room full of other bright prints looks like a student flat.
Frame it properly. A good black or oak frame is what turns a street image into a piece of art. Unframed street art posters on tape look like — well, street posters.
Go big or go alone. Street art is loud; it needs either size (70×100) or space. One print on its own wall usually beats several in a group.
Sizes and frames
| Room | Size | Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Living room, above a sofa | 70×100 | Black, thin |
| Hallway | 50×70 | Black or oak |
| Teenage room | 30×42 to 50×70 | Any, including coloured |
| Home office | 50×70 | Black |
Black is the default for Basquiat and Banksy: it matches the black lines and the stencil feel. Haring's cleaner lines also suit white, and in a child's or teenager's room a coloured frame in one of his primary colours can look very good. The oak or black frames guide has the general reasoning.
Street art also pairs naturally with pop art — they share the flat colour, the bold outline and the borrowing from commercial imagery. A Haring next to a Warhol-style print is one of the few busy pairings that really works.