A journey to the walls

Walking through a new city often becomes a mystery treasure hunt, as murals pop up around corners, from singlesubject paintings to elaborate projects that take up the entire wall of a building. “Street Art” (Lonely Planet, 224 pages, $19.99) takes readers on a virtual tour from Amsterdam to Rome, Chicago to Toronto, Buenos Aires to Sao Paulo, and Adelaide to Melbourne. “This book is intended as a starting point to your journey, highlighting a selection of some of the key cities around the world to experience street art today, and providing guides to each city’s street art hotspots to enable you to explore further,” writes United Kingdom-based curator and creative industries entrepreneur Ed Bartlett in the book’s introduction. Interviews with pioneering artists (Vhils, Blek le Rat, FAILE, Nunca, Faith47 and Martyn Reed) are scattered throughout the book, like those precious pieces of street art on an urban adventure. Those who want to truly dive in and immerse themselves can plan a vacation using the listing and descriptions of street art festivals around the world, including Upfest in Bristol, the rumored birthplace of Banksy.

Neil James / Lonely Planet’s “Street Art” The mural “Shinka” by Irish artist Fin DAC on art-filled Little Rundle Street in an industrial section of Adelaide, Australia.

Lonely Planet’s “Street Art” A Gothenburg, Sweden, mural by Linus Lundin, who works under the name YASH.