[Art in the City] A Street Art Guide to Bangalore

This is the second in a series of city guides for art newbies, art lovers, and aficionados. To read the first part about what Bangalore has to offer from the museum to galleries galore, click here – Bangalore City Art Guide. 

Art is increasingly infusing our everyday spaces and making them come alive in brilliant and unique ways. From murals that also function as social commentary to graffiti that fires up the imagination, street art presents unexpected visual surprises for city dwellers going about their day. This guide points you to the most interesting street art around Bangalore so you can find your favorite piece of art amidst the sounds and smells of the city. Here are some of our favorite spots.

Head to Halasuru and check out the walls of the RBANMS college. Students of the Srishti School of Art, Design, and Technology have transformed them with their brilliant creations.

St+art India Foundation came to Bangalore last year, filling the streets with murals, installations, and more. 15 Indian and International street artists created narratives between Cubbon Park, MG Road, and Majestic Metro Stations and their surrounding areas. Check out Serbian artist Artez’s wall inside the Cubbon Park Metro Station, the art on the walls of the metro station facing Church Street, and more. St+art India Foundation also organizes art walks introducing you to street art around the city.

Shilo Shiv Suleman,  Bangalore-based artist who created a sensation at the Burning Man festival in 2014 with her breathtaking, interactive installation, created a Fearless Collective mural inside KR Market in Bangalore’s oldest flower market.

Another Shilo Shiv Suleman creation is close to Jyoti Nivas College in Koramangala. Part of the Fearless Collective, which was formed in response to the Delhi gang rape in 2012, uses art to speak out against gender violence. Take a turn into 1st A crossroads to take in the vibrant piece.

The large mural along the wall of the Dhanvantari Road underpass was created by The Aravani Art Project, which provides a space for the transgender community to express themselves through street art. The project has been using art, conversations, and educational drives to change social perceptions about the transgender community. the collective that aims to change the societal perception about transgenders using visual arts.

Goethe Institute on CMH road has a captivating mural conceptualized by Fairtrade India and Arzu Mistry, an artist, and teacher at Srishti Institute of Art, Design, and Technology. A series of hands created by artist Amitabh Kumar covers one part of the wall while the other part of the wall was a group effort with Srishti students and others co-creating the mural symbolizing the hand of a farmer. The mural represents the people who are so often ignored and yet who are such a big part of our lives by producing the food that we eat.

Jaaga, a collaborative and creative organization in cooperation with BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) turned the usually dull and dusty pillars that hold up flyovers into works of stunning art. The area under the KH Double Road Flyover was turned into a tableau of silhouettes, abstract designs, and creative objects and has become a landmark.

Even an area such as Malleswaram, which is considered traditional Bangalore has a place on the map of street art in Bangalore thanks to the Urban Avant-Garde project that took place in 2012 in cooperation with Malleswaram Accessibility Project, Jaaga and Goethe Institute. They are dotted across the area and you can stroll along with 6th and 7th cross and head to the railway station to catch a peek.

We can’t seem to have enough art on Bangalore’s streets. If you have come across one such, pause and take a picture and share it with us too.