Mural XXL: How graffiti grew up into giant street art

Street art is having a moment – one which is unlikely to be hosed away or painted over anytime soon.

From its origins in illegal graffiti tagging, crude territorialism, nocturnal stencilling and urban social commentary, street art has survived early debates about whether it’s a legitimate art form or callous vandalism, an eyesore or a new aesthetic.

From Beirut’s Yazan Halwani, who creates gorgeous works incorporating calligraphy and portraiture, to collectives like the Portuguese Lata65, who work with older street artists, the art form is reaching a point of maturity and sophistication. Russia has even opened the first permanent Street Art Museum in a working plastics factory in St Petersburg.

To chime with this zeitgeist, Claudia Walde, a street artist using the moniker MadC, has collected nearly 300 images from 30 artists for the book Mural XXL.

Concentrating mainly on Europe and North America, with examples from South Asia, Africa and Latin America, the works go far beyond furtive under-the-bridge spraypainting. They are meticulously planned, tower block spanning, permanent conceptions designed to burst colourfully from their often grim surroundings.

As an artist, German-born Walde trained in graphic design in her home country as well as at renowned London art school Central Saint Martins, but her passion for street art began when she was a teenager, inspired by a book about graffiti.

“I started painting the very next day,” she tells me via email. For her, the transience of street art wasn’t a hindrance but a challenge, even an inspiration.

“When you paint in the streets for 19 years you get used to the fact that your work vanishes with time. In some ways the fact that it goes away is also a motivation to keep painting and evolving.”

In selecting in the artists for Mural XXL, Walde focused on those who have been influential in paving the way for newer artists, as well as displaying “the wide range of different styles and techniques in mural painting, so people can see what it is possible to do with spray paint, brushes, rollers and wall paint.”

Mural XXL makes for a striking compendium, especially when the style and content of the murals are making a political point about the social history of their location or are markedly more beautiful and cared for than their rundown surroundings.

But I cringe to my boots when I ask if the meaning of street art changes according to where it is, and receive this reply: “Yes certainly … In Europe or America people know about street art, they see it in the media and have a basic understanding of it.

"So when they come across it their view on it is already a little biased. When you put up something in the middle of Africa instead, where people aren’t spoiled by TV or such, the public will react very differently, usually more positively.”

Walde has also published books exploring the heritage of hand-crafted poster art and international graffiti artists’ manipulation of the alphabet and creation of typographies. As well as launching Mural XXL Walde is also preparing for her second solo show as MadC at Pure Evil gallery in London, which will be selling her vividly coloured, sweepingly dynamic canvases.

One feels however, that her heart really lies with the ruggedness and democracy of the street. She relishes “the freedom the street artists have when they are not limited by a white room. You can interact and play with the urban space and the people living there. This paves the way for new ideas of all sorts.”

She enthuses about the accessibility of art which is created in the open, for anyone to see and celebrate: “Street art is non-elite. People see works that they like and they take a photo of it and put it online. So in many ways street art is also entertainment for many.”

Mural XXL is available now published by Thames & Hudson. MadC’s solo show Character opens on 1 October 2015 at Pure Evil Gallery in London.