"Knowledge speaks, wisdom listens"
One of Athens' must-see street artists is WD, aka Wild Drawing, who has been making his mark on the capital's urban landscape since his first creations in 2013. Originally from Bali, he came to public attention in 2015 with his mural of an owl at the intersection of Samou and Konstantinou Palaiologou streets, in the heart of Metaxourgeio. With his owl, WD demonstrates that art can flourish in spite of everything. In fact, at the time, the country was seriously affected by the economic crisis and was just beginning to recover from a tragic period to look forward to a less gloomy future. Right in the middle of this neglected district of central Athens, the artist chose the walls of a building belonging to two cultural institutions to remind us that we must always keep a perceptive and profound gaze, even in the middle of the darkest night. The owl, eternal symbol of Athens, becomes a metaphor for the country's contemporary situation. The fresco quickly spread beyond the borders of the Greek capital, going viral around the world. Following this success, WD remained true to his creative principles, continuing to produce works with strong social and political messages. He chose the facade of a dilapidated building in Exarcheia, at the junction of Méthonis and Arachovis streets, for his emblematic work No land for the Poor to pay homage to the homeless in Greece and beyond. The public space of Athens is thus revealed to the world, a veritable art gallery with a thousand works, some of them little-known, yet to be discovered.
Since WD's launch, a number of foreign and Greek street artists alike have taken to the walls, awnings and facades of the old, reborn and vibrant districts around the city's historic center. They leave their works and colorful signatures wherever public space permits, transforming the streets of Athens into a gigantic urban exhibition. In Metaxourgeio, at 2 rue Megalou Alexandrou, let yourself be surprised by the subtlety of a mural by SimpleG, depicting a young woman reading, leaning against a small table with a stack of books behind her. The title of the work speaks for itself: So many Books, so little Time. As part of a project to rehabilitate this district, which for years had been abandoned to prostitution, SimpleG wanted to rehabilitate the image of women, while casting a critical eye on our age, in which frenetic rhythms distance people from the deep emotions aroused by reading.
Hot spots of street art
Gazi and Kerameikos, the two districts bordering the historic center of Athens, have become a favorite canvas for street art artists in recent years. Among them, INO, Greece's most renowned artist, owes his international renown to his distinctive style and unique talent, which he has been expressing on large-format frescoes since the early 2000s. He can be found on the city's most unexpected surfaces, and many of his works bear his trademark of faces hidden by gas masks. Having become very well known over the years, he has decided to keep the features of his identity and face preciously hidden, just as he did in his early days, when he would sneak around the city after dark. INO's mural messages focus on the country's social and political situation, but also on subjects of international interest, such as peace, remote surveillance of citizens, the cruelty of capitalism... His 90-meter-long mural The Last Supper (2019) transforms the walls of the former bus depot on Piraios Street in Gazi. It depicts a parody of The Last Supper: 11 faceless figures devour banknotes, while the Parthenon stands in place of Christ... The composition is completed by hands desperately trying to get closer to the dinner. Inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, INO precedes his captivating Last Supper with the equally captivating allegorical eyes of the Mona Lisa..
The other area of central Athens that rhymes with graffiti and street art is Psirri. Here you can admire, among others, INO's Apocalypse Now or his latest eloquent composition, dated November 2024, at 121 Ermou Street, depicting three tearful caryatids who take it in turns to stare at the Acropolis, Parliament and Greek society. There are also works by Greek artists Taxis or Vasmoulalis (Iroon Square), Hope dies Last by WD (9 Katsikogianni Street), and All Dogs go to Heaven by Billy Gee, Alex Martinez and N. Grams (at 2 rue R. Palamidou), dedicated to the stray dog known as Loukanikos, who protected demonstrators during the riots produced by the crisis, until his death in 2014. For the record, this dog was named Time Magazine 's Personality of the Year in 2011...
The lively Exarcheia district willingly offers its street corners to street art artists as a matter of principle. Here, the canvas is often recycled, and the ephemeral nature of tags and graffiti in no way detracts from the quality of certain works. For example, large-scale murals by well-known artists are an integral part of the landscape: on rue Navarinou, next to the park managed by local residents, Italian artist Blu has created a colorful work evoking the values of social solidarity, collective struggle and self-management. Elsewhere, Sonke's female figures can be found throughout the neighborhood.
Last but not least, artists are not confined to the central districts of Athens: students at the Fine Arts School leave their signatures all along Piraios Street, the central axis linking the capital to the port of Piraeus, not to mention the permanent gallery that has become the Polytechnic campus in the Zografou district... Despite the sometimes suspicious or even hostile attitudes towards graffiti, Athens today relies on the talent of street artists to rethink its relations with residents and visitors alike.
