1. Dissection of a Whale by Nychos (New York, New York)
Born to a family hunters, Austrian street artist. Nychos has been fascinated with animal anatomy his whole life. Cartoonist yet strangely detailed murals like the one above are his specialty.
2. Herakut (Lueneburg, Germany)
German muralists Hera and Akut have worked together since 2004. They combine characters who seem plucked from fairy tales with biting text.
3. Seth (Paris, France)
Julien Malland better known as Seth is one of the most renowned graffiti artists working today. A trained fine artist (he attended the Ecole nationale Superieure des beaus-arts in Paris), he’s primarily known for his young doll-like figures.
“The large walls require a special technique and approach, and a very particular way of working,” he says in Mural XXL. “In my opinion they represent the most spectacular aspect of what I call public art.”
4. La Virgen de la Discordia by INTI (San Juan, Puerto Rico)
Chilean artist INTI prefers to work solo when he creates his murals, which always feature bizarre aliens that wouldn’t look strange in a Star Wars story board. Why?
“I love to go to the difficult ways in life rather than the easy ones,” he says.
5. ecb (Ferropolis, Germany)
While others focus on youth and fantasy, ecb born Hendrik Beikirch exclusively created black-and-white portraits of old men, wrinkles and all. This on at a former mine site depicts miners from the region.
6. The Healer by Bezt (Kosice, Slovakia)
Creative duo Przemek Blejzyk and Mateusz Gapski who go by Sainer and Bezt respectively, and together form the Etam Cru – first met as students at the Władysław Strzemiński Academy of Fine Art on Lodz, Poland.
7. Primavera by Sainer (lodz, Poland)
“What’s important to me in the first place is to create something good. It is really cool when it puts a smile on the faces of people passing by,” said Blejzyk.
“After I finish a wall I am going back to my place, but the people who live there, they see this mural for years, So it is cool when my work boosts their imagination and when people create stories to my illustrations.”
8. Vhills (Lisbon, Portugal)
Instead of using paint to create his portraits, Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto – Vhils – carves and chisels faces into former billboards and deteriorating walls, using the negative space to create features and shadows.
9. Maraea by Askew (Wollongong, Australia)
New Zealand’s Askew covers local buildings with images of Polynesian natives. Not content to spend all of his time creating murals, he also works as a graphic designer, illustrator, photographer, and director.
10. Case for Pow Wow Festival 2015 (Honolulu, Hawaii)
Andreas von Chrzanowski who works under the name Case – is known for his photo-realistic portraits and close-ups of hands.
11. Case (Magnitogorsk, Russia)
This 10-story mural, von Chrzanowski’s largest to date, took six days to complete and required the use of a local fire department’s fire engine ladder.
Why does he believe his images have such an impact?
“Mankind is awestruck by everything that is massively big. It always remind us how small we are,” he says.
This feature originally appeared in CNN.
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