It was a sweet surprise to see the street art of San Francisco-based artist Fnnch (pronounced “finch”) in Tokyo a few days ago.
We spotted one of his famous honey bear wheat-paste artworks while walking down “Cat Street,” that narrow, pleasantly relaxed half mile-long lane of trendy shopping that connects the high-end Omotesando neighborhood with the hyper-bustling Shibuya. This honey bear was near the Shibuya end, where the street-level energy pumps up a few notches. This one depicted the honey bear wearing a top hat.
Fnnch’s artwork is all over San Francisco, so much so that there’s recently even been a mini-backlash there and some controversy about him and the ubiquity of his locally iconic honey bears. It’s always great to discover rad graffiti and street art in Tokyo, but we still get an extra little kick out of seeing the familiar work of an American or European artist travel so far around the globe.
GLOBAL GRAPHICA 