Sociology Street Art

“Street art is omnipresent in urban streets and is a rish source of inspiration for artistic creativity. . . It possesses the aesthetic voices of the ordinary and enables resistance for the marginalized. Banksy’s street art, in particular, can guide students to think about various social and political issues and to reflect upon the immediate, if not unjust, world in which they live, to transform that world, and to

Street art and graffiti are two different styles of urban art, and yet they still hold some of the same characteristics. After all, street art was born out of graffiti, and an article in Huffington Post described their relationship in the clearest way: “Graffiti was the template, the means, the method. Street art adopted all of this and pushed the boundaries of what outside art can be, going beyond anything achieved during the Golden Age of graffiti’s early evolution ” (McCarthy). In every city, there is evidence of graffiti and street art, both legal and illegal. Street art includes more “art-like” styles, with more imagery than just words. Because of the

Popular art creates shared experiences for individuals to have a point of reference. Chapter 5 of Eyes Wide Open identifies the following points as roles of art within a culture. Art within a culture creates a Map of reality by using visual and auditory imagery to show how life could or should be experienced.

Banksy is the unidentified mysterious artist that for the last twenty years has been vandalising walls across the world with imagery that is known for its ability to capture an audience with a profound and methodical phase or statement. Banksy’s work aims to confront society with the issue faced in today’s culture and challenges the viewer to justify their action. Banksy produces artwork that forces an audiences to think and question themselves and the world they live in. Although Banksy’s true identity is unknown, his artistic style is easily found in his artwork alongside his signature.

Banksy, as most would say, marks the pinnacle of the street art movement and what it can become in the following years or even decades; a true art form. Not only has Banksy turned the movement into an art form, but has also turned it into a future catalyst for change since his work is now the spectacle of a global public, watching and analysing his artwork which is why it has been turned into an instrument of advocacy and a visual expression of protest which in of itself can be called a form of

Art became an integral and most crucial thing in lives of most people. It helps people to represent their feelings through their art works, whereas other people are using art in order to get profit. People are learning arts in schools and universities and using it in their lives for different proposes. However, art seems to be good for all people, there is only one type of it which is usually not welcomed in countries - ‘Street art’. According to Johan Slogan, ‘Nowadays art’ (2010, 13-14), street art known to us as a “graffiti” is a way of representing feelings by people from lower class who were discriminated or have their own opinions for situation in the world. Street art has been declared as vandalism prohibited in most developed

According to CNN (“Academic Study claims to have unmasked Banksy -- sort of” by Don Melvin), Banksy was an artist who used graffiti as communication to show what was really right and wrong with the world. His artwork was political and provocative, making his art one of the most powerful types of political expressions in graffiti. He is one of Britain’s most successful and mysterious (due to people not really knowing his real identity) artists and has his artwork featured on bridges, walls, and streets. One of his most popular artwork during the Vietnam war was a piece of art named Napalm. In the black and white artwork, a girl taken from a photograph of the napalm bombing in the Vietnam War is holding hands with Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald. In the photograph, the girl is naked and is screaming and crying in fear. Meanwhile, Ronald McDonald and Mickey Mouse have huge grins on their faces. No one is really sure what Banksy was trying to prove, but some historians have the theory that Banksy was criticizing the Vietnam War and was trying to show how America damaged Vietnam while killing innocent children. Another theory is that consumerism and entertainment occupies too much attention of the American people, causing them to be “blind” to the social injustices happening in their country. Besides his piece of “Napalm”, the rest of Banksy’s art also contains political artwork as well, where he depicts people and companies in his political society. His artwork is still political and provocative today, and can be seen on his website

In the past decades there has been a broadened movement towards political and social change throughout the world, in particular the United States. Tensions between those who want to keep the statues quo and those who want political and social change have been on the rise. Some Contemporary artists through their artwork have been trying to help progress or show the political and social progression that has occurred through public imagery. Some of these works produced bring awareness to social and political issues and others may just change the perspective on what is thought about them. This exhibit will be a collection of contemporary artists that produced graffiti and street images that have been highly influential to the public over the past

Art, something man has practiced since way before our reign over the earth came to fruition and helped us evolve in the manner we did. Just as we humans have evolved from primates, art has evolved right along with us from forms of delivering information to a form of free expression that help us delve into deeper levels of our human consciousness. Even to this day art continues to affects our everyday lives from helping boost scores in school to relaying a message of international peace, love, and compassion for one another. It also influences our daily views of life, constantly encouraging us to look at things from other perspectives and truly question ourselves and others.

For this assignment, I chose the section 'Art and Social Consciousness’ because art which incorporates the struggles and injustices within a specific time period, both intrigues and encourages me to learn more about these artists and the directive they incorporated into their art.

Banksy is one of the famous English graffiti artist, film director, painter and political activist through the use of painting. He has produced different satirical street art combined with subversive epigrams and dark humor of graffiti. These have been executed in the distinctive stenciling method. Therefore, the paper analyzes how Banksy has changed the people’s view of graffiti as being vandalism to a form of controversial political issues using street art. The name Banksy has ignited controversy and piqued curiosity. He is undoubtedly one of the famous and most controversial street artists who has emerged on the global stage. The fact that the identity Banksy remains unknown after more than twenty years on the graffiti scene improves the intrigue that surrounds most of his work. There are various artworks of Banksy that have appeared in, Canada, England, America, Australia, France, Palestine and Israel and Jamaica. His pictorial, as well as, satirical messages are seen across the boundaries of art, philosophy, politics, narcissism, sociology and humor.

The artwork is an aesthetic autonomous expression by someone on something. This means that artwork always has a life of its own that is very separate and different from other affairs of human beings. The artist making the art will always define the purposes and the functions of his/her arts. Sometimes it may be the public or the market of the arts that will define the functions of the arts. Expression by artists through artwork has always expressed, reflected, and influenced the cultures, places, and time from which the art itself always evolves. The art can also be used for social and media criticism and that means it helps in objecting to reality. Some people also use artwork as a tool for knowledge creation and research. It has also got some very important social benefits like bringing happiness to different people.

London’s delusive visionary, Banksy has made waves of controversy. His artwork started in London and have made their way to Los Angeles, Syria, and Brooklyn but he is known all over the world for mocking our society and people seem to be drawn to it, including myself. Even though graffiti is not known for making an impact to society, Street art can reflect a feeling because all art has some meaning and the artist has a reason for painting it for the public to see.

This paper will explore a form of modern day propaganda which is quite controversial, that of the works of anonymous street artist by the name of Banksy. Banksy uses the sides of buildings, streets and bridges as a blank canvas as a social commentary against political issues. Chapter 1 will argue how Banksy’s street art is a form of visual culture and propaganda by defining propaganda and comparing his works to previous examples of visual manipulation in history, such as pro war posters during World War I and II. Chapter 2 will further explore the nature and intention of the artist, focusing on the content of his work as well as the political, social and religious context they display. Furthermore, chapter 3 will focus on the public reception Banksy’s works have received, both positive and negative and how the debate between his work going against typical forms of visual persuasion is successful and impactful.

Street art functions as art for the public, meaning it can be enjoyed by the masses as opposed to just those who make an effort to go to a gallery. This direct interaction with the public is effective particularly because people’s habits have become modified throughout the age of mechanical reproduction, as explained by Walter Benjamin. “Every day the urge grows stronger to get hold of an object at very close range by way of its likeness, its reproduction” (Benjamin). The instant a new Banksy piece is discovered, the Internet is bombarded with pictures, opinions and the location of the new art. Through pictures the viewer is still able to evaluate the content, but the context and the aura of the original are destroyed. A picture of street art is exactly that, a picture, but street art is an experience that can only have full impact when seen in person. Unfortunately the existence of new street art can be brief and is often defaced by other vandals. In this case, a