Outside art

I have a thing for street art. A sort of fascination for graffiti. Not so much the little tags on the walls, but the larger pieces always get my attention. It was when i was a young(er) girl and my big brother had a book full of graffiti pictures that i learned about the oldschool graff artists.
Amsterdam has a long history with graffiti and i love the great collage of images on the walls. But how is it, that so many people just pass them by? They so much go unnoticed. How come nobody takes the time to look at them, let alone acknowledge them, think about them, or maybe only see them?
Nowadays you see a lot of sticker and stencil art on the walls. I wish i knew more about the culture, I'm clueless about who the people behind the images are. But at least i do see them. I stop to look at them. And decided to take pictures and share the free outside art with my visitors.

**Edit: That's the great thing about posting on my blog, visitor response! I say i don't know and want to learn, and voila, there's an answer. The illustration on the top left is by Bob Gibson of the London Police collective. He is currently residing in Amsterdam and treating our streets to some of his art.