Hotels worldwide are turning to graffiti to express their individuality, and they’re earning a bit of street cred in the process.
1. Ace Hotel
2. Baby Grand Hotel
3. Mama ShelterTurkey
THE MARMARA ANTALYAWant to wax poetic on your
Mediterranean stay? Scribble your thoughts on the beach resort’s designated graffiti column, one of eight themed stations — including a climbing wall and a towering spice rack — spread among its open-concept sixth floor. From $145, www.themarmarahotels.com
New York City
ACE HOTELThe lobby features a wall mural made of 4,000 black-and-white graffiti stickers — including “Hello, My Name Is …” tags and Priority Mail slips — copied from originals that Bronx-born collage artist Michael Anderson has lifted from subways, street signs and other urban surfaces since 1994. From $205, www.acehotel.com
Chicago
BLACKSTONE RENAISSANCEChi-town’s historic beaux-arts property celebrates 100 years with the exhibit “Outlaw,” which highlights the work of Brooklyn graffiti artist Kaves as well as pieces by hotel GM Rob Cartwright, aka Survive 185. Don’t miss the portrait of one-time Blackstone regular
Al Capone. Exhibit runs through September. From $189, www.marriott.com
Paris
MAMA SHELTERFrench and English phrases like the shrinkage of emptiness adorn the black carpets, elevator walls and ground-floor chalkboard ceiling of Philippe Starck’s 170-room hipster hotel — a former graffiti-covered car park situated near the city’s famed Pere Lachaise cemetery. From $95, www.mamashelter.com
Athens
BABY GRAND HOTELHotel management
set 10 illustrators and urban artists loose upon 55 of this boutique property’s 76 guest rooms, resulting in walls painted with Smurfs, superheroes and flying sheep. From $156, www.classicalhotels.com
KNOW YOUR STREET ARTISTSBanksyAn elusive, world-renowned British street artist known for satirical stencils and text, which have appeared everywhere from San Francisco’s
Chinatown to post- Katrina New Orleans.
InvaderA mosaicist whose colorful ceramic works depict the pixilated space aliens that Atari made famous; look for them in well-traveled spots, from Parisian alleyways to Katmandu.
SwoonA Pratt-educated artist whose exquisitely detailed, life-size paper cutouts and prints exist along NYC’s abandoned walls.
Shepard FaireyCreator of the Obama HOPE portrait; in the 1990s, his “Andre the Giant Has a Posse” sticker campaign went international.