Lake, mural art from Berlin

I think there's no discussion that Berlin is the European capital of Street Art (and probably the world's too). Some of my favourite artists (El Bocho, Alias, C215...) live or have lived there, or at least have done some sort of pilgrimage there (Blu) to leave their mark.

In my last visit to Berlin, while glancing through the very interesting books in Big Brobot (if you happen to be in Berlin-Friedrichshain, don't miss it, it's a lovely shop), I came across the second installment about the work of another Berlin genius, Lake (Lake mural art from Berlin & other cities part 2). I have to sadly admit that I was unaware of this great artist, and only a few of the Berlin works shown in the book seem familiar to me (the ones in the East Side Gallery mainly, and I think some of the pieces that so much I've enjoyed in The Fifty Faces are his). His style is quite distinctive, particularly his "horizontal works", complex and appealing. Aesthetically impeccable, most of his creations contain some kind of (left) political message, either in the drawing itself, or steaming from the fact that it has been made in run-down impoverished areas, trying to create beauty there where ugliness is the day to day reality.

The weak point of this book is the lack of information about the location of the works (it just indicates the city), so I'll have to do quite a bit of research through the net to try to pinpoint the exact locations of his Berlin works so I can pay a visit in my next trip there.

This mural below is really powerful, and would deserve a better location (let's say Kreuzberg or Friedrhicshain), as it's real location (Schöneweide) has gained some notoriety in the last years for being the place of choice for many neo-nazi subhumans to settle down (there's even a pub/kneipe ran by one those pigs).

I feel sort of ashamed by such a short post, so I'll expand it by mentioning that you can visit the , the Street Art section in this blog by a "Berlin wanderer" to get a nice introduction to the Berlin scene, and that you should treat yourself visiting the beautiful work by this other Berlin genius, Alias (aesthetics + message, the way it should always be).