FABEN is a French street artist / multidisciplinary artist named Benjamin Fabris, who works under the name FABEN.
He comes out of the graffiti + street art scene and also does painting, sculpture/objects, and digital art.
A signature motif youâll see a lot is his âMister Love / MLOVEâ universeâbold, pop, heart-forward imagery that shows up in murals and collectible-style pieces.
8jan26
This wall at the Embassy of Portugal isnât just âpainted street art.â Itâs carvedâliterally cut into the surface by VHILS (Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto), whoâs famous for making portraits by chiseling, drilling, and peeling back layers like an urban archaeologist.
The piece is part of his âScratching the Surfaceâ series, made here in February 2017 (it reportedly took about five days).
And it fits this neighborhood perfectlyâthe Creative District energy, the river nearby, the sense that the cityâs real stories live in textures, not headlines.
For me, it reads like a reminder: every face has a backstoryâevery wall does too.
8jan2026
4jan25
4jan25
December 2025
One of my favorite scenes in Bangkok is the canal at nightâthe khlong water moving like dark tea, the air heavy with that warm, urban humidity, the lights shimmering like the city is melting. And then, right there along the edge, you get this long stretch of graffitiâlayered, loud, messy in the best way.
Thereâs a character painted into the wallâcomic-book style, sharp-eyed, looking like theyâve been through something. Next to it, there are pieces that feel like they were painted in a hurry and pieces that feel like someone planned them all week. Together it becomes a living archive: different hands, different moods, different eras stacked on top of each other.
Thatâs what I love most about street art. Itâs not precious.
It doesnât ask permission. It doesnât wait for a grant. It doesnât need a gallery opening or a white wall or a champagne smile. It just shows upâsometimes brilliant, sometimes rough, sometimes half-finishedâand then it gets weathered, covered, repainted, erased, resurrected.
Street art teaches you how to let go.
You take the photo because you might never see it again.
29dec25
29dec25
Artist: Otto Schade
December 2025
And then I turn a corner and the city hands me a scene like itâs been saving it just for me.
A wall shouting âBASUKA!â in yellow and pinkâthe kind of graffiti that isnât asking permission and isnât apologizing either.
And right in front of it: a row of guitars. Not behind glass. Not staged for tourists. JustâŠthere.
Then thereâs the man.
Straw hat. Light shirt. That posture Iâve seen a thousand times in a thousand countriesâthe posture of someone who has spent years in public space without needing to announce himself. Heâs not performing. Heâs just there, present, grounded, watching the street like he knows exactly what the street is capable of giving me. We stayed and talked to him for quite a while and heâs a gentle soul proud of the two squirrels looming in the trees above, that he takes care ofâŠ
The whole thing felt like Bangkok doing what Bangkok does best: improvising a composition.
Graffiti isnât just decoration hereâitâs a declaration. And the guitars arenât props. Even if nobody plays a note, they still change the air. They suggest music the way a closed book suggests an entire world. Itâs the promise of sound in a place already packed with noise.
We stood there longer than we meant to.
Because this is why I wander. Not for landmarks. Not for âtop ten.â Not for the clean narrative of travel writing where every moment is curated and meaningful on cue. I wander for these accidental collisionsâthe art and the human and the clutter and the color and the little ache of realizing the world is always doing something interesting, even when youâre not looking.
Bangkok is a city that doesnât pose for you. It doesnât slow down to become your backdrop. But once in a while, it gives you a frame anyway:
A wall that wants to sing.
A few tired guitars waiting for the right hands.
A man in a hat, calm as an old song.
And meâpassing through, grateful, trying to capture it before the city rearranges itself again.
Because it will. It always does.
24dec25
24dec25
