The best street art: 50 incredible examples to inspire you

38. EVOL

For his Buildings project, street artist EVOL transformed street furniture into miniature high-rise blocks, complete with graffiti and er, monsters. The German artist exhibits his work in warehouses as well as local streets for all to enjoy. The intricate detail of each piece is incredibly realistic, and it's great to see something boring and functional turned into something that will put a smile on people's faces.

39. Guerrilla Crochet

It's official – crochet is not just for grannies. Guerrilla crochet (or, in the UK, 'yarn bombing') has been causing a storm in recent years, with renegade street artists enveloping everyday street furniture in brightly coloured woolly loveliness. One of the most prolific crochet street artists is Agata Oleksiak (aka Olek), who has covered everything from the Wall Street bull to London taxis.

40. Isaac Cordal

Like Slinkachu, Spanish artist Issac Cordal likes to work with little figures. Unlike the former, however, Cordal tends to take a more melancholy approach. Most of his street art represent the everyday businessman and their struggles to deal with the mundanity of everyday life.

41. Ronzo

Independent artist Ronzo describes himself as 'Vandal Extraordinaire'. On his site he claims that he exists because "this fragile Earth deserves a voice". We're not quite sure what he means by that, but we like it.

The artist's 2012 Birdz project saw colourful bird sculptures popping up on London's Brick Lane as well as council estates, along with a graffiti mural of the 'Olympic Bird' and a a 'Credit Crunch Monster' placed on a building overlooking The Old Truman Brewery.

42. Vj Suave

Vj Suave is a collaboration between artists Ygor Marotta, hailing from Brazil, and Cecilia Soloaga, from Argentina. The duo create live visual performances using a mixture of character illustration, animation and projection. The video shows a series of intricate designs and colourful characters coming to life and walking the streets. A truly unique street art event.

43. Guerrilla Gardeners

This project saw sneaky gardeners making it their mission to turn our streets a greener place. The team behind Guerrilla Gardening became a global hub, with planting taking place in cities from London to Beirut. The collective carried out their work during the night.

44. Kello Goeller

Kello Goeller took pixel art into a new dimension in this awesome sculpture. The piece, entitled Pixel Pour 2.0, was created from wood and latex, and could be found on Mercer Street in New York. Goeller is a multidisciplinary performance artist, and can currently be found crafting 'dreamscapes' in Portland.

45. Invader

French UFA ('unidentified free artist') Invader has been invading cities across the world with his perfect pixelated artwork for years. He always completes his artwork behind a mask, so as to not give away his identity. This project, entitled Space Invaders, is inspired by first-generation arcade games. The characters are made out of tiles cemented onto walls, and Invader has set up a scoring system for them, with each character rating between 10 and 50, depending on its size.

46. Roadsworth

Peter Gibson, aka Roadsworth, started his street art journey painting the streets of Montrealo. Initially motivated by a desire for more cycle paths in the city and a questioning of the world's 'car culture' in general, the artist then moved on to urban landscapes and bigger, more ambitious projects – including the above Popsilos project. In 2004, Roadsworth was arrested and charged with 53 counts of mischief. Despite the heavy fines, he continued his street art quest. 

47. Miina Akkijyrkka

Finnish sculptor Miina Akkijyrkka has a thing for cows. She scours her native country for used vehicles and turns them into these huge animal sculptures. The artist has been working her magic for an impressive 50 years.

48. Vhils

Alexandre Farto, who works under the moniker Vhils, is a street artist hailing from Portugal. He has gained renown for his murals, created using a bas-relief carving technique that involves cutting either directly into walls or removing layers of advertising posters.

The above artwork, located in Sumatra, Indonesia, aims to raise awareness about a new species of orangutan that has already become endangered due to unregulated palm oil farming and irresponsible construction in its natural habitat. This piece is part of Splash and Burn – an initiative that uses art as a way to draw attention to environmental issues. 

49. The Glue Society

It's so hot on Tamarara beach in Australia that this ice cream truck has melted! OK, you got us, it's actually a brilliant street art sculpture created by artists at The Glue Society. The installation, entitled Hot With The Chance of Late Storm, was displayed on the beach during the opening of the 10th annual Sculpture By The Sea exhibition back in 2006.

50. JR

French photographer and artist JR's political street art began during the Paris riots of 2005. Angered by the way the areas involved were being presented in the media, he took photos of the residents pulling funny faces and flyposted them around the city.

His passion-filled, often didactic artwork has since appeared in deprived areas across the world, from the suburbs of Paris to the shantytowns of Rio. He's also been arrested in China, and in 2011 was awarded the TED prize, worth $100,000.