Lately, we’ve been noticing a growing art trend, one that we’re particularly excited about. Street artists from around the world have found some incredibly clever ways to incorporate what nature provides. Trees, shrubs, and brushes take on whole new meanings as art is created around it. From a lone man pulling back a green curtain to a family of brown bears playing happily in a forest, these pieces are all the more intriguing because they actually include living things. Here, then, are our top 10 examples where street art fantastically fuses with nature.
1. Playful Bears
Recently, 140ideas created this gargantuan mural for the project “Bear Favor” in Sofia, Bulgaria. A family of playful bears seem to be scaling the wall. Best part? One of the tree trunks is giving off the illusion that it’s three-dimensional, emerging from the wall!
2. Lone Leaf
Penza, Russia-based Alexey Menschikov is a master at creating simple street art illusions. On this green fence, he’s made a silhouette of a dead tree branch, or is it still alive? A lone leaf sprouts up at the top, making us believe that the branch is mysteriously hovering in the air.
3. Peek-a-Boo
As a tribute to recently deceased Russian street artist Pasha P183 (aka the Russian Banksy), Lithuania-based artist Ernest Zacharevic created this “peek-a-boo” piece. Located in Bangasar, Kuala Lumpur, it shows a man wearily pulling back a curtain of greenery to look onto the street.
4. Fallen Tree
In a subtle but incredibly clever way, TSF crew created this anamorphic graffiti tree that looks like it’s fallen over. After first painting it to look upright, the street art team remade the piece to look as if it had been cut down. The white spray-painted leaves on real trees only added to the great illusion.
5. Humongous Hair
Photographer Kristian Eliz took this great pic of a spray-painted man combing his huge hair with a pick. Of course, when your hair is as tangled as branches in a tree, you definitely need a good comb. The piece was spotted in Fort-de-France, Martinique.
6. Painted Leaves
Though simple in nature, this street art piece will make you do a double take. What exactly are you looking at? The silhouette of a man seems to be painting leaves on a wall or is he actually taking the paint away? Street artist Pejac created this clever piece on a wall in Spain that was located near actual trees.
7. Mother and Baby Birds
Athens, Greece-based street artist WD (or Wild Drawing) created this piece in his hometown. Called Mom, it features a giant mother bird feeding a worm to her babies. Notice how the artist incorporated the tangled branches and leaves into the painting of the mother and that he found the perfect, green spot to create the nest.
8. Where the Red Fern Grows
While artist Aakash Nihalani is known for creating street art with tape, in this piece he’s also found a clever way to incorporate ivy growing on a wall. The interactive work, that was located in Brooklyn, New York, shows green leaves pouring out of the rectangular box, dumping onto the man below.
9. Origami Crane
Spotted in Dorset, UK back in March, 2012, this well-positioned piece shows an origami crane with a goldfish in its mouth. A confirmed Banksy painting, it’s all the more clever because it was created near a river and the crane appears to be standing on top of some shrubbery.
10. Little Sprout
Ann Arbor, Michigan-based artist David Zinn proves you don’t have to work on a grand scale to make smile-worthy art. Take for instance this adorable chalk creation of a little mouse watering a tiny bit of grass that’s sprouting on the street. The incredibly cute piece can be found at the Midland Center for the Arts in Michigan.
What’s your favorite piece?