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Artists regularly find inspiration from their surroundings. While nature is often the focus, the urban environment also provides a never-ending fodder for creativity. This is both formally, from its outward appearance, and conceptually, as the hustle and bustle of everyday life is distilled into a single image. City art manifests itself in different ways, from photography to sculpture to even home decor items.
Architecture, with its skyscraper silhouettes and exquisite facades, is the primarily subject in city art—and particularly design. One unexpected way is through products. Skyline Chess incorporates the iconic buildings of major metropolises like London and New York in the place of conventional game pieces. Likewise, the jewelry of Ola Shekhtman takes a city’s most charming characteristics and translates them into Cityscape rings. With them, you can hold the memories of metropolises around the world close to you—even if you aren’t physically there.
Of course, a literal translation of a place isn’t the only way to honor it. Using elements like symbols, colors, a variety of mixed media, artists capture the essence of a city, or cities in general. Artist and craftsman James McNabb communicates the over development (and crowding) that can happen when so many people densely populate one place. His circular woodworking sculptures are an abstract exploration into this feeling as we can get lost into the never-ending arrangement of elongated shapes pointing towards a bright center beacon.
City art offers more to viewers than simply eye-pleasing portraits of a metropolis. See how creatives interpret places around the world.
Sculpture
Joshua Smith
Read more: Artist Creates Miniature Worlds Mimicking the Grit and Grime of Urban Architecture
The Makerie Studio
Read more: Beautifully Crafted Paper City Highlights Intricate Patterns in Moroccan Culture
Diana Beltran Herrera
Read more: Lifelike Paper Birds Adorn Oversized Stamps of Countries Around the World
Graphic Design & Illustration
Jack Daly
Read more: “Wanderlust Alphabet” Features Travel Highlights of International Cities From ‘A’ to ‘Z’
Mateusz Urbanowicz
Read more: Colorful Watercolor Paintings Immortalize Tokyo’s Historical Storefronts
