Exploring downtown Joburg’s street art on an e-bike

ADVENTURE HAPPENS EVERYWHERE, EVEN ON THE STREETS OF THE BIG SMOKE. HERE YOU CRANK INTO THE MANIC JOZI TRAFFIC SNARL IN SEARCH OF LEGENDARY STREET ARTISTS PAINTING THE TOWN RED. AND BLUE. AND GREEN. AND ORANGE AND YELLOW AND PURPLE, AND LITERALLY HUNDREDS OF OTHER HUES

‘Imagine a city where graffiti wasnʼt illegal, a city where everybody could draw whatever they liked. Where every street was awash with a million colours and little phrases. Where standing at a bus stop was never boring. A city that felt like a party where everyone was invited, not just the estate agents and barons of big business. Imagine a city like that. And stop leaning against the wall – it's wet.ʼ

Those arenʼt my words. Theyʼve been immortalised by the inimitable Banksy, probably the worldʼs most famous (graffiti) artist. The parentheses are mine, though, because his fame – or maybe you prefer infamy – has blended street art into mainstream public consciousness through a combination of documentary filmmaking, art installations, music videos and political activism.

Banksy is a legend, despite the fact that his identity has never been confirmed. Rumour has it that he should be nearly 50 now, with industry insiders speculating that he might be the alter ego of either a famous trip-hop musician, comic book artist or television presenter.

What we do know is that his subversive works first surfaced in Bristol in the UK in the 1990s, at around the same time that my personal graffiti career culminated in a seminal and sardonic piece, executed under the cover of darkness on a highway bridge to Woodstock in Cape Town.

“Drank, Draks & Drie-gang Perde ”– in an uneven, three-foot high scrawl – certainly does not qualify as high art, but it made my mate Anton and I feel suitably anti-establishment at the time. We gazed upon it in quiet satisfaction before stumbling downhill to our local, Don Pedroʼs, for a garlic pita and another bottle of Tassenberg.

My reconnection with graffiti happened in the ʻYear of Lockdownʼ (as 2020 shall henceforth be known) and via the most unlikely of gentlemen. Eelco Meyjes is a self-styled ebike evangelist and bicycle activist, and the two of us linked up in some social media back alley while I was researching an article on pedal-assist bicycling.

We stayed in touch and I finally got to meet him in person during the Isuzu ʻBeyond Lockdownʼ expedition, a three-week road trip around South Africa to boost local tourism. Our itinerary included a couple of days in Gauteng and, as I was keen on an urban adventure, Eelco said we should join him on a graffiti crank and the rest is… well, this story.

The plan was to meet before dawn at Fournos Bakery in Dunkeld (mainly because no one in their right mind would set off on a dark-zone ride without a solid caffeine hit). Also, this is where Eelco – a Peter Pan-ish septuagenarian masquerading as an amiable, high-spirited teenager – starts off his regular street art outrides.

And what a buzz it was to crank into the resounding roar of rush hour traffic in Johannesburg. We felt like a pedal-powered urban assault force as we

sniped in and out of alleyways, along mall thoroughfares and via tree-lined suburban streets, all the while scouting for the vivid and larger-than-life “walls”.

I may not know my “graffers” from my “taggers”, but that doesnʼt mean I canʼt appreciate the vibrant art gracing the city and suburban streets crisscrossing the heart of Jozi. The experience is akin to walking into an olde world sweet shop, with unexpected and exhilarating colours and sensory satisfaction around every corner.

Two things really stood out as we explored the underbelly of the concrete jungle. Firstly, it turned out to be a truly invigorating velo adventure, brimming with pavement hopping and back alley bombing. Every now and then, though, the vibe

would do a mental dogleg as we zigzagged through an ever-changing urban environment, with parks and gardens and malls and industrial precincts morphing into a wacky aesthetic experience.

Best of all was Eelcoʼs magnificent passion for these funky street art rides. ʻLet me put it this way,ʼ he shouted as we dodged buses and bunny-hopped Picantos*, with the sun colouring Sandton in all shades of amber and gold, ʻif we let a dozen Banksy clones loose in a city like this, nobody would ever be bored in a traffic jam, right?ʼ

But who needs Banksy when youʼre in SA? Local graffiti has blossomed as an art form and we were astounded by the diversity and visuality of the everchanging “Street Gallery” we were passing through. The multi-cultural mashup of artistic styles means that many of our home-grown artists have by now achieved global fame.

Names like Falko One, Sonny, Paige33, Faith47,

Nomad and a rag-tagger bunch of creatives are making waves in global graffiti circles, with many regularly commissioned to execute major pieces in London, New York, Hong Kong or other avant garde cities around the world. Together, theyʼve made Jozi the “Street Art Capital of Africa”.

Yep, graffiti has certainly become a big tourism business. Banksy has a mind-blowing 11 million followers on Instagram, yet he does not follow a single person in return. Add to this the fact that his work has become the second-most visited tourist attraction in London, creating millions of pounds of revenue every year. Amazing, when a couple of decades ago street art was a complete cultural no-no.

And this whizz-bang-pop of non-conformist colour and design is but a few pedal strokes away; all you need to do is saddle up your bike to get psyched. Iʼll bet youʼll be blown away by what you see across the bars. Not to mention that youʼll get a buzzy and zippy – and entirely accessible – bike ride to boot, making this one of the best and quirkiest urban adventures on Earth.

*That was an exaggeration; I could at best bunnyhop a small stick.

OPPOSITE PAGE One of the huge walls painted by Sonny in lower Rosebank; he regularly travels the world to help raise international awareness for endangered wildlife. THIS PAGE Cranking into the graffiti heart of Rosebank, a veritable open-air gallery brimming with street art.

ABOVE All Graffiti Coffee Rides start and finish at the famous ‘Fournos’ Bakery in Dunkeld.

RIGHT Peter van Kets and Zane Schmahl pedal past a collaboration wall by Rekso le Hond and Fiya One in Greenside.

LEFT Author Jacques Marais in front of a ‘Legends’ wall painted by Martin Strever along the colourful Oxford Rd in Forest Town.

BELOW ‘The Crossing’ by Falko One forms part of an interactive walking gallery at the Zone in Rosebank; a downloadable QR App gives information on each artwork.

LEFT Zane Schmahl admires a typical Jozi street sign offering any number of dodgy services.

BELOW LEFT The ‘Lions Head. painted by Falko One has since sadly been demolished by property developers.

LEFT Eelco Meyjes and Jacques Marais in front of a wall painted by Mars.