Belgrade street art

I am mesmerized by the amount and quality of street art all over Belgrade. I did not notice this four years ago. While one finds here, just as one would in any Western European City, a good number of the timeless classic "Jovana, I love you," declined here as "Jovana, volim te," one is much more likely to stumble upon some crazed-looking alien or wild creature straight out of some comic book. On the walls of grimy buildings I have so far seen a sharp-toothed yellow monster, a clunky submarine, a poetic abstract mural in black and white on a garden wall in Zemun, mysterious historical figures done in stencil, a crazed-looking elf, a doe-eyed Karadjordje in full period regalia, and science fiction panoramas.

This street art is everywhere. It brings to mind something like what used to exist in New York in the 1980's but even there, even considering the contribution of Keith Haring, was the same variety and richness present? I find myself fantasizing about staying in Belgrade longer in order to hunt for and systematically shoot the best specimens of the Belgrade street art. It seems to say to the passerby who cares to listen: "We might be broke and without jobs. We have to live against some pretty heavy odds because of a local economy which has been dire for years and is only getting worse. Yet, look at what we are capable of. We are young, talented and smart and full of wild dreams."