museums & galleries, street art

Top 5 Street Art Galleries in London

by Dutch Girl in London
Shepard Fairey artworks on display in the industrial looking StolenSpace Gallery, one of the best street art galleries in London to buy urban art.

Known as one of the best street art cities in the world, London is also home to numerous urban art galleries. I always find great joy in unexpectedly finding fantastic street art or stunning mural ‘in the wild’. But equally, there’s something amazing about having a contemporary urban artwork hanging on your wall at home for you to admire several times a day. Interested in buying street art yourself but not sure where to go? Then check out these awesome street art galleries in London! They’re listed in alphabetical order, not in order of preference. (Because they’re all awesome, basically!)

Best urban art galleries to buy street art in London

Go straight to:

  1. BSMT SPACE
  2. Graffik Gallery
  3. Pure Evil Gallery
  4. StolenSpace Gallery
  5. Well Hung

1. BSMT SPACE

Originally starting out in an abandoned basement, BSMT SPACE has grown out into one of the most significant street art galleries in London. It’s based in Dalston, a vibrant East London neighbourhood famed for its multi-cultural and creative character.

BSMT SPACE has been hosting exceptional urban contemporary exhibitions since 2015. The gallery is a huge supporter of early-career artists, but also highlights the more established ones. There are too many of my favourite artists to possibly list here. Some personal highlights include the phenomenal Colombian street artist Stinkfish and London-based Italian artist ALO whose unique works reminiscent of Expressionism have also been on display at the renowned Saatchi Gallery.

Vertical photo of a colourful spray-painted mural by Stinkfish. It depicts the profile of a young woman covered in abstract lines and shapes.
Mural by Stinkfish in Hanbury Street, Shoreditch
Vertical photo of a paste-up by ALO in London. It depicts an Expressionist-style portrait of a womam consisting of black and white lines mostly. Her hair is in a bun and her facial features are rather like strange geometric shapes. Her eyes are big ovals in pink and blue, her pouted lips are pink too. From one of her eyes a label is hanging down with the word 'tear' on it spelled backwards. In her hair there is a pink hairpin that has the word 'ribbon' on it.
Paste-up by ALO in London

Besides the three gallery spaces – which are available for hire too – BSMT SPACE also has amazing contemporary urban art for sale. And if you decide to buy your very own piece of London street art here, you can have it framed by their experienced staff in the dedicated framing studio. How convenient is that?

BSMT SPACE
529 Kingsland Road
London
E8 4AR

2. Graffik Gallery

Located on the world-famous Portobello Road, I realise that Graffik Gallery is the only London street art gallery in this list that’s based in West London.

While all the others are in different East London neighbourhoods, this doesn’t mean that you can’t find any good London street art galleries in other parts of the city. It merely shows how biased I am towards East London being a street art hotspot! And most of all, that I know this area best from having lived there myself.

The exhibitions at Graffik Gallery feature stunning artworks by numerous artists whose works are often seen in the streets of London. Some of my favourite artists include CLET, famous for his hilarious ‘pimped’ traffic signs and the illustrious London street artist Stik. But also the anonymous TRUST. iCON whose sassy works combining humour and witty social and political criticism always stop me in my tracks whenever I spot them in the street.

Close-up of a forbidden for traffic sign. The white bar in the middle of the red round sign is slightly tilted. There are stickers stuck on it featuring a police officer kissing the bar with love hearts on it. Behind the sign you can see part of a pub sign that seems to read 'The Crown' but only the word 'Crown' is visible.
CLET traffic sign in london
mural by Stik in Shoreditch featuring two figures holding hands, one representing white people, the other one represents the local Muslim community
Iconic mural by Stik in Shoreditch, symbolic for the multi-cultural

When it comes to places to buy street art in London, Graffik Gallery has a great selection of urban art for sale. Besides exclusive editions, originals, limited edition prints, you can also get your hands on special merch and even clothing. 

Feeling inspired to pick up a spray paint can yourself being surrounded by all that art? Then join one of their unique graffiti workshops!

Graffik Gallery
284 Portobello Road
London
W10 5TE

3. Pure Evil Gallery

Run by London-based stencil artist Pure Evil, this East London urban art gallery is a fantastic place to buy street art in London. As a firm supporter of independent artists Pure Evil Gallery has a great collection of prints and originals for sale.

Exterior of Pure Evil Gallery in London. There are two pedestrians in the street visible, a woman who is walking further ahead and a young man who is passing the gallery and looking in while he's walking

A few of these artists are the cheeky HIN whose satirical paste-ups of disputed world leaders portrayed as toddlers always make me laugh whenever I spot them in the streets. Then there’s also Pablo Delgado, master of miniature artworks, and Portuguese artist Pantonio, who’s famous for his mesmerizing fluid lines that so admirably evoke the sense of sentient beings.

Vertical photo of Zarina standing against a wall with street art by Pantonio in Barcelona. The mural seems to depict hare-like animals, very much enlarged and painted in fluid organic lines in black and blue.
Pantonio street art in Barcelona

Obviously, you can also buy artworks from Pure Evil himself at his own gallery of course. Always wanted to get your hands on one of his famous graffiti-tag bunnies? Or what about his pop art-style artworks of iconic figures like Jackie Kennedy or Audrey Hepburn with his signature tear dripping down from their eyes? Here’s your chance to buy them from the man directly!

Pure Evil Gallery
108 + 98 + 96 Leonard Street
London 
EC2A 4XS

Stencil artist Pure Evil seen at working spraying stencil street art of Jackie Kennedy with his signature spray lines running down her eyes. Her hair is black and eyes, nose, mouth and tears are blue. Above her head the date 1963 is sprayed in the same colour blue. The artists is crouching dow in front of a brick wall in the dark. There are a few paste-ups by other artists on the wall.
Pure Evil caught at work

4. StolenSpace Gallery

StolenSpace Gallery must be my personal favourite street art gallery in London. Located just off Brick Lane – a hotspot for street art and graffiti – it finds itself only a few steps away from the heart of Shoreditch. This must-visit London neighbourhood is without a doubt one of the very best places to see street art in London.

Exterior of the London street art gallery StolenSpace. The picture is taking at night and it's dark out but the lights are still on in the gallery. You can see the shop at the front of the gallery with large prints on the right and a rack of clothing on the left with other urban art to buy on display. Further into the space there are framed artworks on the walls. On the door there's a sign saying 'Yes, we're open'. On the facade of the buildings it says in golden handwritten font 'stolenspace' and also Osborn St. No. 17. London.

Representing a whopping number of 50 internationally acclaimed urban artists, you can be assured of outstanding artworks on display. Some of the artists represented by the gallery are ROA, Shepard Fairey, Ben Frost, D*Face, The London Police and C215. Not bad, I’d say! Not bad at all indeed.

Shepard Fairey exhibition StolenSpace Gallery London 2019
Shepard Fairey exhibition at StolenSpace Gallery

Over the years I’ve seen many impressive urban art and street art exhibitions here, both solo and group shows. And though pretty much all of them have been nothing short of outstanding, their 2014 ROA exhibition has been the most memorable to me. Not only because ROA is one of my favourite muralists, but also because of the immersive and playful layout of the artworks in the gallery space. It really has been one of the most engaging street art gallery shows I’ve ever seen.

Exhibition of ROA at StolenSpace gallery, one of the top urban art galleries in London. It shows a large honey badger painted with black and white lines that look like pen stripes. The badger is half lying/sitting on its back, paws in the air. iIt's painted on pieces of wood and the middle part has a door in it that's open. You can't see the whole honey badger but through the opening you can see further down the gallery space and catch a glimpse of other paintings of animals.
ROA StolenSpace Gallery exhibition

Want to buy your own piece of beautiful piece of urban art? You can obviously buy prints and special pieces during exhibitions from the art on display. But there’s also a shop at the front of the gallery where you can buy prints, special editions, books and stickers, mugs and more. Alternatively, just head over to their online shop on their website.

StolenSpace Gallery
17 Osborn Street
London
E1 6TD

5. Well Hung

Don’t you just love this gallery name, Well Hung? Hey, I wasn’t referring to its possibly vulgar reference! Mind you and your dirty mind, ha ha! (Of course I was …)

Based in Hoxton, yet another East London street art hotspot, Well Hung doubles as a framing studio and gallery. (Hence its name, clever stuff eh?)

The exterior of Well Hung, one of the best street art galleries in London. The windows is plastered in paste-ups.

Hosting some of the best urban art exhibitions, this London street art gallery is a great port of call for buying your very own street art prints and originals. 

Photo taken in an angle of a white wall displaying two rows of urban art by different street artists such as HIN and My Dog Sighs. The framed artworks have different sizes and are displayed in a masonty layout.

And you know what the great thing is about buying your art from them? That you can have your beautiful purchase professionally framed here as well, ensuring them to truly stand out in your living room or whatever space you’ll be displaying them in!

White wall with framed urban art works by different artists in different sizes, organised in a masonry layout.

Some of the artists are the extraordinary Dale Grimshaw, hugely talented Zabou and Hannah Adamszek, famous for her dreamy bohemian female portraits.

Well Hung
239 Hoxton Street
London
N1 5LG

Do you ever buy street art or would you consider buying an artwork after reading this post?
Or do you think urban art belongs to the streets and not on a gallery wall or at home?
Let me know your thoughts below, I’m curious!
Thanks, Zarina

2 thoughts on “Top 5 Street Art Galleries in London”

  1. Great post again! It is not that I think street art doesn’t belong in a gallery but I do think street art shows itself best outside, mostly because of the sheer size of most murals/art. I always enjoy seeing street art, but you already knew this…
    Thanks! Have a nice Sunday! xx

    Reply

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