Mission Street art – Travel Photo Mondays
It’s Monday morning, time to enjoy some gorgeous travel photography and inspiration from around the world. Let’s banish those Monday blues by sharing beautiful imagery and personal story telling. You can also check us out on Twitter for Travel Photo Mondays at #tpMondays for more updates and submissions for the day.
Mission street art – Travel Photo Mondays
Street art at Balmy Alley in San Francisco
If you thought that the post I did earlier on Clarion Alley and the graffiti art was amazing, then let me take you on a another tour of one of my favorite areas for street art which is located in the Mission district of San Francisco. Balmy street off 24th Street and many parts of the neighborhood are filled with amazing street art and graffiti. There seems to be more acceptance of graffiti in the neighborhood if it is caliber work from local artisans, many stores even include street art on their front facades to attract more business. The exciting thing about Mission street art is the pure graphic and saturated colors that are used in each artist’s palate, creating vivid imagery and stunning visuals. The colors are shocking, contrasting and vibrant – it grabs your immediate attention to look and focus on the subject matter and enjoy the wild and fresh visuals. Another wonderful thing about the street art in this neighborhood is that there is little if no tagging on the buildings where these beautiful street art images are done.
Let me take you on a discovery photo tour of this incredible area:
A street view of Balmy street in the Mission district
Colorful montage and street art at Balmy street
Some of the artwork here are quite blatant and progressive because the original intent of the artists were about protesting a variety of injustice and political abuses in Central America that was happening in the late 80’s. Current themes are now portraying a variety of prejudice and abuses including: economic imbalance, human rights, global warming, and even hurricane Katrina. The concentrated murals and street art found on Balmy street is worth seeking out and spending some time to enjoy and view all the amazing art work. It’s artwork that changes on a regular basis, so there is always something new to check out in the alley.
Graphic compositions in the Mission district,street art
A cry for justice, Mission street art
Foreclosure and exiting the Garden of Eden
Outside of the protest murals, there are also graffiti and street art that depicted the beauty of the people, their community and the rich history of the various ethnic cultures living in this vibrant district of the Mission district.
Beautiful artwork on Balmy street
Isn’t this a beautiful composition above with the huge banana plants sticking above and adding more of a 3-D effect?
Mission street detail
Vibrant details and brightly painted homes complement the animated mural above.
Beauty in all forms on Balmy street
Graphic reliefs and colorful composition in the Mission district
A cool dude in green pants in the Mission
Surprisingly, there are lots of greenery, potted plants and flowers on Balmy lane, it’s wonderful going to an urban environment and see flowers planted out in the streets to enjoy and share with the public.
Potted gardens on Balmy street
Smells so sweet – Angels Trumpet on Balmy street
Would you live in a Victorian building colored hot peach below?
Victorian beauty in the Mission district
Even the area around 24th street in the Mission has so many graffiti and street art incorporated into the storefronts, some are really pure artwork. For those interested in taking a break from the art scene, there are plenty of shops and amazing restaurants on 24th street. You can find a variety of delicious and inexpensive ethnic food when you are in the mood for something local and done just like you would find from a particular ethnic cuisine. There is a broad spectrum of ethnic cuisine to enjoy as you explore the area around 24th street.
A painted building on 24th Street in the Mission
I love the old school sign of this place re-purposed into a cool diner called Pig and Pie.
Discoland on 24th Street
Colorful buildings add to the composition
This whole area around 24th Street and Balmy street are filled with so many amazing graffiti and street art, it seems like every building you look at will have something interesting to see as far as artwork. The nice thing is that most of this is really art and not trashy tagging work – the images are clean and very colorful, making a nice statement for this crowded urban environment.
Hope you enjoyed the tour of street art in the Mission district for Travel Photo Mondays. Please do share this post with the social media buttons and visit the other bloggers participating below.
These are so awesome information! Your artwork is so so powerful curated.
Thank you on a detailed impressive guide! Saved your post for the future 🙂
Hope you get a chance to visit the Mission for some amazing street art
Wow, these are great pieces! I love how political protest is now taking place via art. It’s so much more impactful than a protest, IMO.
Great street art Noel! I would definitely visit it if I went to SF!
Gorgeous photos. I always examine your composition since I am a very novice photographer and am trying to hone my art. Nothing like watching those of an experienced photographer like yourself, Noel. Thank you!
Awesome street art – there are a few small towns in Australia and NZ who have successfully used street art to re-vitalize their tourism
Overwhelming! thank you. It means I must visit San Francisco again!
These are such lovely photos – vibrant and colourful is exactly my style!
What fantastic photos! That first eye one is mesmerising, I really enjoyed looking through these, thanks!
Somehow I’m not really into street art (because the line between ugly graffiti and street art is a bit vague) however this is just pretty, thanks for sharing Noel!
I recently went on a walking tour in San Francisco that included some of the murals you’ve shared. My hometown, Philadelphia, has a Mural Arts Program that has produced some spectacular murals in some quite gritty neighborhoods.
Street art can be really interesting and artistic – but I am not sure about the woman giving birth one…bit strange 🙂
Crazy that I haven’t seen the street art in the Mission. I will now after seeing these amazing images. I love the green pants, by the way 🙂
Those colors really make your day. What a beautiful art. I´m kind of sad I didn´t know about it when I was in San Francisco.
Wow! Very bright, beautiful and vibrant. I didnt know SF had this side to it.
Beautiful colours and thanks for sharing.
Cool selection – the Latin American protesters is my favorite.
What a wonderful display of street art! I love how each image tells a story and is so captivating. I was just looking at some street art/graffiti someone had shot in Paris, and a lot of it was so vulgar – very disappointing. And then I saw your posts… like a breath of fresh air 😉
I love murals and finding unexpected pockets of color in the urban jungle. 1. I’d totally live in the hot peach victorian. 2. I was a little taken aback by the birth mural, very unexpected!
That Memphis street art was oddly disturbing 😮
I love street art, I really do believe only very evolved societies are capable of such social commentaries. I’m literally jumping in joy because lately they’ve started cropping up in India as well (much to the dismay of others who call it ‘vandalism’).
And YES!!! I would definitely live in that peach house 😀
I don’t know about evolved societies, ‘street art’ has been happening since paleolithic times when people would scratch out art on cave walls! 🙂 I think a lot depends on where the ‘art’ is if it is considered vandalism or not. I have seen some on the side of disused buildings for example which is fine,but then others take it too far and do it on the side of personal property or businesses, in which case it is vandalism regardless of how nice the art is.
I love your collection of street art – it is beautiful!
Yes, really enjoyed the tour! It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I do like the painted building on 24th St.
You collected murals of every type, from sad to happy to a serious message. A wonderful montage of stories in the photos.
There is certainly a lot of talent in this street art. Goodness – I can’t draw a stick figure! Those angel’s trumpets are so pretty. I DO live i a peach colored house (it’s on my Facebook page 🙂
I would so love to see this area and really enjoyed my “digital” tour! The colors of the murals are so vibrant and the beauty of art is that it can make such a powerful statement without rhetoric to protest against an injustice as well as celebrate so much of what makes life beautiful.
Love this! What a Trip!
These are powerful images! I cannot decide which one I like best so I’m gonna go with the cool dude in the green pants. All of the trips we made to SF, how did I not know about this amazing place?! Thanks for bringing it to light.
Beautiful street art! I am sad that I missed all of this beauty back in 2012 when I visited San Fran… looks like I need to take a trip back!
San Francisco is such a great city. And yes, we’d live in that hot-peach Victorian building! Beautiful photos, as usual…
Very beautiful street art indeed, Noel. Thanks for sharing it with us.
San Francisco is so vibrant. Lovely street art – and great photos of it!
Lovely! I love street art.
So many colours! I lived in San Francisco in 2004 but don’t remember any of this! Very nice work, they are so awesome!
I’m a big fan of street and you caught some beauties on Mission Street. They’re all so colorful.
And for this reasons, for the colours and the ‘messages’ left on the wall we can call it the ART. My favourite is the one with a compass!
Such a cool area with those colors and plant life. I imagine that this was a really fun place for you to shoot. It’s great when you can find street art that is untouched by graffiti.
Noel, it looks like we choose a similar topic for our posts, only that the street art in Berlin seems a bit more abstract. The street art in San Francisco looks quite sophisticated and almost like real paintings in comparison. It’s great to know that people in the area respect this kind of art and refrain from tagging or straying over it and so it looks like a really nice, creative area to walk around… 🙂
Absolutely stunning! And yes I would live in a hot peach house.
What a beautiful gallery of street art! I especially love the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe with her bones emerging from her gown.
Blatant is the word, but they’re still look beautiful and oh, so love the bold colors!
The murals are beautiful, insightful and seem to blend with the surroundings.
Lovely pieces!
I love street art – It always appears so spontaneous, despite the obvious hours it really takes to produce –
And I love the sense of community that it evokes – It feels as though the people of the area have really taken ownership of it and so belong!
These are so awesome! The artwork is so powerful.
Noel, I love the mission district! If I’d been home I would have posted some pics from the last time I took the photos of graffiti, but we’re traveling and I don’t have access to my photos. Gorgeous colors!
gorgeous murals. Beautiful captures.
Beautiful and artistic.
Such vibrants colours, I would spend hours photographing it as well 🙂