Arts

Adelaide’s Street Art: A Painted Path Through The CBD

The underground street art scene has been rising for a few years now, and there’s pieces of incredible talent all around the city if you know where to look.

Photo Credit: Emma Agars & Hannah Davey

Adelaide is a pretty great place and whether you’re just visiting or here for the long haul, we have a little secret for you. The underground street art scene has been rising for a few years now, and there’s pieces of incredible talent all around the city if you know where to look.

By roaming the city streets and stumbling upon known hot spots, hidden treasures and exhibitions a pretty hefty collection was gathered.

We aren’t the first to be interested in this beautiful medium. ‘Adelaide Art Walls‘ is an initiative advocating for the appreciation of art in and outside of the gallery.

Whether it be in a garden, wall, window or fence, their belief is that art in public places transforms spaces and draws people in to connect and interact together. Establishing Adelaide as a creative city is also one of the main goals, and even apart of the City of Adelaide strategic plan from 2016-2020. From our perspective, it looks like it’s well underway!

Artist: Finbarr Dac

Their website has listed some of the artists we discovered while hitting the pavement, and many more! Given the nature of getting out and about and exploring, it was impossible to find every artist’s name and fully credit them. If you recognise any of the artists or artworks featured in this artwork, please get in contact with us at [email protected] or DM us on Facebook!

Unlike our last guide, we’re showing you the artwork segmented by area. Following a (somewhat) logical map and route you’ll find all the beautiful pieces pictured below and then some.

Artist: Cam Kerr

Stop 1: East End

From impressionist dot paintings, collage and portraits to installations the vibrant and diverse East End provided a beautifully spread collection of work that definitely left an impression. Having a plan for exploring certainly helped pinpoint some of the known pieces, but the best part was stumbling on a bunch of new ones in the process. What was even more interesting; the backstories to some of the works, from tributes to iconic personalities, business owners (such as on Frank Street) to company brands (found on Vardon Avenue) and self-expression – the art scene truly brings storytelling to life in more ways than one.

  • Rundle Street: Vaughan Place, Ebenezer Place, Union Street, Vardon Avenue, Frank’s Lane, Sym Choon Lane
  • Rundle Mall
  • Frome Road: UniSA,
  • Vaughan Place
  • Adelaide Uni
  • Pulteney Street
  • Pirie Street
  • King William Street

Stop 2: North West Side

The North West side brought a gritty street vibe, with works featuring the typical graffiti style. It’s not a style we all understand, but combined with bold lettering and stunning imagery it’s difficult to ignore this great mode of expression. Hindley street in particular had some surprises, with some great student work displayed near the UniSA campus.

  • Hindley Street: Tatham Street, Register Street, UniSA
  • Morphett Street
  • Grote Street: Trades Hall Lane
  • Eliza Street

Stop 3: South East Side

The final leg of the journey had some of the best hidden gems of all, a mix of darker grafitti pieces and some of the biggest wall murials yet!

  • Waymouth Street
  • Central Market
  • Chinatown
  • Compton Street
  • Field Street

There are plenty more stunning works around the city. If this has gotten you motivated be sure to check out areas which haven’t been listed as there’s so many more treasures to discover.

Disclaimer: We’re not sure of all names of artists so if you recognise something please get in contact at [email protected] or DM us on Facebook!

More News

To Top