Street Art: We spoke to Sheffield’s answer to Banksy

What was once considered solely an act of mindless vandalism has now not only become cool, but an accepted art form.

With famous street artists such as Banksy and Phelgm adorning the streets of cities across the globe, street art has become a way of literally putting your stamp on the world, and gaining fans as you do so.

Richard Attenborough Mural by Rocket 01

Phelgm, pronounced ‘felm’ and not ‘flem’, is a well known Sheffield graffiti artist, whose pieces can be found all over the city.

This cleverly positioned piece embellishing the side of newly opened vintage shop “Mooch” for example.

The fact these artworks remain untouched on the bricks of Sheffield’s buildings shows the modern appreciation of street art of the city.

Phelgm’s piece on Mooch wall

Sheffield streets also showcast the works of many other less known artists, of which you can easily identify their tags across Sheffield. From those who mimic the work of famous artists:

Banksy-esque

To those who want to convey their political message with in their own style:

Bold

Or those who just want their name on everything:

A more stereotypical form of street art

As you’d expect, these contentious statements of art risk fines, community service and even prison each time they take a spray can to any inch of property which doesn’t belong to them.

We spoke to a Sheffield street artist, who wished to remain anonymous, about his experience of painting the Steel City.

“Personally I like to paint the city’s brick walls, the paint sinks into the brick better and is much harder to remove than on metal”, meaning his piece is more likely to remain a statement.

He also spoke of a mutual respect between street artists in Sheffield- “If I see an area that has tags that has clearly been marked out by someone like Eugene Booms then I won’t paint over it”.

For our anonymous street artist, painting  his tag in various ways has become “almost addictive”, and in spite of the risk of prosecution he intends to continue splashing his mark across the city, and many other cities, in an attempt to paint his “journey through life, from school, to university, to wherever I live”.