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The newest star of Instagram? A wall

On the corner of Kenmare and Mott streets at the north side of New York’s Little Italy, a queue of women is gathered beside a pizzeria. They’re not after pizza, mind – one would hazard they haven’t tasted gluten since 2007 – rather, they’re waiting to get their photograph taken with the latest, freshest, buzziest, newest star of Instagram: a wall.

That’s unfair. James Goldcrown’s wall, or #Lovewall, is actually a 70in (178cm) x 60in (152cm) mural painted on to a wall outside a family-run pizza restaurant within spitting distance of the Bowery Ballroom, and comprises a series of colourful, dripping (or bleeding) hearts. A gentler version of abstract expressionism, the #lovewall has been compared to Jim Dine’s work, and has become something of a destination for bloggers hoping to inject a little spark into their social media.

By and large, fashion’s presence on Instagram is centred around the outfits. Welcome, then, ”wall scouting”, a self-explanatory term coined by fashion site Fashionista that involves Instagram users seeking out interesting backdrops like this. Wall scouting is growing as a trend as fashion bloggers look to up their game by posing in front of interesting backdrops.

The British-born artist was commissioned to create his #lovewall outside L’Asso earlier this year. The owners have been doing this for a while, in a bid to zhoosh up the wall outside, and commission work on rotation every few months. Except Goldcrown’s piece has been there since February, owing, presumably, to its staggering social media success. It’s difficult to keep track of, but Goldcrown claims it’s tagged up to 100 times a day. He also claims to have gained several thousand new followers since it went up in February and receives a handful of commission emails every day. This summer, he is heading to Miami to work on a third mural for the Art Basel show. On the day we talk, he’s rushing back to the studio to finish the artwork for a Universal-signed band who have commissioned the same piece for their album sleeve.

Artist James Goldcrown stands in front of his #lovewall Photograph: James Goldcrown/Instagram/Jams Goldcrown

“This wasn’t my intention when I first did this” explains Goldcrown. “I didn’t think it would turn into a ‘business’, for want of a better word. But I get it: it’s sort of become a brand.” In keeping with this sentiment, to the left of the mural, Goldcrown has provided two hashtags #bleedinghearts and #lovewall in case – you know– you want to tag it. Goldcrown thinks its success lies in it simplicity: “It’s really just some hearts layered up, in bright colours. I can see the appeal to a fashionable eye – the colours are bound to match something. But it’s also fun. People like that, to liven up their social media presence. Maybe people are looking for more in their Instagrams.”

Alyssa Vingan, who originally wrote about the trend of wall scouting earlier this month, noticed a proliferation of interesting backdrops on her Instagram feed in the past year. Then she came across @Photogenicwalls, an Instagram account set up by Eva Chen, former editor of Lucky magazine, that collates photogenic walls around the city. She sees painting artworks on walls as a way of monetising artwork, “and why not?” she asks. Alongside Goldcrown, she mentions a strip in Wynwood, Miami, a Hopper-esque Miami neighbourhood, which is gaining traction thanks to colourful graffiti appearing on the Instagram feeds of people attending the Basel.

Back in New York, she’s a fan of Bradley Theodore’s worj, an artist whose giant, ghoulish skeletal renderings of Anna Wintour and Karl Lagerfeld are ripe for Instagram. Then there were the Kate Moss x Supreme posters that plastered the sidewalks of New York’s Soho a couple of years ago, and which positively encouraged fashion types to pose, in mock-Moss poses, beside her image.

“That whole look, that gritty urban graffiti, it’s taking off in fashion, too” she explains. “The new campaign for Moschino by Jeremy Scott, has tapped into that look. There was a time when graffiti was seen as dirty and ugly, but nowadays, thanks to social media, street art has been elevated to a different platform. It’s art.” She also acknowledges that now, since everyone is on social media, they are having to change tack to get noticed: “It’s competitive, you need something to set you apart from the rest.”

British fashion writer and blogger, Delphine Chui, has been posting her OOTDs (outfits of the day) for about a year. She used to use her garden as a backdrop, but has recently begun using more interesting locations in a bid to stand out from the rest: “Nowadays, everyone’s taking OOTDs so it’s not enough to just do a bathroom selfie if you’re hoping to start doing them as a series.” Her favourites include the walls by Peckham multiplex, which help her colours “pop”, and the walls around east London’s Brick Lane. “My latest Instagram target was at the Prada Foundation [in Milan] because you’ve got the gold backdrop of the building, interesting wallpaper inside and Wes Anderson’s cafe Bar Luce.”

Delphine Chui in front of one of her favourite murals

Chui thinks the boom in backdrops comes from the way fashion has become so international: “Travel and fashion these days go so hand in hand. See @sincerelyjules whose photos don’t only evoke outfit envy but also major wanderlust. It’s all about the braggy wish-you-were-here snap disguised as an unassuming #OOTD.” It also, she says, takes the pressure off, making her feel “less narcissistic” about posting selfies.

In London, Leake street tunnel, near Waterloo, which sees work by Banksy bleed into expletives and random tags, has become a fixture among fashion photographers and bloggers. Sweet Toof’s cartoonish gums and teeth murals, which dot the canals from Dalston eastwards to the River Lea, another. Mark Fleming, creative director of creative agency Rosie Lee, which specialises in branding, working with Nike and New Era, uses urban backdrops because they imply you are well travelled or ‘in the know’ about the city.

A pop-up cinema inside Leake street tunnel in Waterloo, London. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA Wire/Press Association Images

“Interesting backdrops… tie into the narrative, either though colour, pattern or message,” he says when referencing the versatility of Leake street, “because it gets updated constantly”. He likesgraffiti around Hoxton: No good Reason by @i_am_lillylou andHands by @james_bullough on Redchurch street.

“What unites all these pieces isn’t mad skill,” explains a friend of a friend who occasionally tags and graffitis (and isn’t Banksy but needs to remain anonymous). “They’re nice and well done but, it’s more about their being colourful, so as to match any outfit I guess, and the style, which is heavy-handed and sort of like branding. People see it, and think: ‘I need to get a photo with that because I’ve seen it somewhere else.’ I think the golden rule is that the most successful work isn’t necessarily the best. But that’s the age we live in.”

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