Street art in Atlanta

Atlanta has small but growing street art scene. Hotspots for street art include the Krog Street Tunnel. Along the 22-mile BeltLine path which circles the inner city along industrial and residential spaces, a hotspot is the Wylie Street wall of the CSX railroad's Hulsey rail yard.

Atlanta is host of the street art conference Living Walls, the City Speaks.

In 2010, ten haiku poems of artist John Morse were featured on 500 'bandit' signs posted around the streets of Atlanta, a guerrilla installation that received extensive press coverage including The New Yorker, The Guardian, NPR and South African national radio.

On April 1, 2011, Alex Brewer, a.k.a. HENSE, and several other local Atlanta graffiti artists were sued for $1 million by Atlanta neighborhood property owners. However, shortly after HENSE and several legitimate artists countersued stating they had nothing to do with the work that they were being sued for. Despite HENSE's prolific "all-city status" for tags, his 2010 grant proposals for city-funded wall paintings on Arizona Avenue and along the Atlanta BeltLine were all accepted.

In May 2011 the City of Atlanta established a Graffiti Task Force. In October 2011 the police arrested 7 persons that they designated as vandals and some regard as artists. However, city officials assert that they have no intention of stifling the street art scene. The city selected 29 murals which would not be painted over including those commissioned as part of the BeltLine and works created during the Living Walls conferences. But the list did not include the most famous street art space in the city, the Krog Street Tunnel. Many street artists and members of the arts community interviewed by Creative Loafing believe the city's efforts are misdirected or futile.

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