Street Art : The Case Of Banksy : 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

(Gogerly, Liz. Graffiti Culture - On the Rader: Street Style. 2009. 13.) His works are humorous, ironic, and provocative which can easily be seen on the streets, warehouses, zoo, and Palestine wall. Sometimes his works would appear in the British Museum, Tate Gallery, the Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (artofthestate.co.uk, “Banksy – On Art Of The State”)

Street art is progressively increasing as a forbidding magnet to charm tourists to the Bronx. People are taking benefit of the worldwide interest in street art and its strong origins as a Bronx art form, and expecting that this overpowers what Maruri named the “world-wide problem” of a bad image that the area still fights with.

In the 1980’s the art world was gifted with the artist Jean michel basquiat. Basquiat, a man who lived two contrasting lives as street artist and “fine artist” in the art punk movement of the 1980’s. His work as a street artist was full of poetic and provocative messages painted in the streets of Manhattan New York, and his work as a “fine artist” did the same on gigantic canvases with looming figures in bold colours. Regardless of this dichotomy, his work in both of these practices has the ability to bring light to issues he and many others were facing and are still facing now. In particular, Basquiat’s work brought light to his personal experience with racism and struggle with otherness in and outside of the brutal art world. The next paragraphs will discuss how Jean Michel Basquiat delt and fought the oppressive systems of his time through his art.

In 1971 at the start of Nixon’s war on drugs, before the 0000s crack epidemic; before the advent of political tactics used to demonstrify ghetto neighborhoods succeeded in bastardizing its urban youth, Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five recorded what is considered one of the greatest urban narratives of his time. In his rap “The Message Pt. 2” Flash described the daily occurrences and harsh realities of his ghetto life in vivid detail. Now 45 years later in the midst of black lives matter, at a place in America where black lives must be affirmed through hashtags and protest, many are upset that the American art people have come to rely on, to tell the stories and narrate the experiences of being poor and black, only exist to valorize the crime, money, drugs and sex that come from being poor.

One response to struggles against classism, racism, and other key social issues comes about in the form of organized protests or acts of protest. To refer to my previous definition of public space, I will be focused on art that currently exists within the public realm of the street. For the purposes of my argument, protest art will be focused on. Although there were actual riots involving members of communities, as seen in the case of the riots against police in the eighties and again with Duggan’s wrongful death, recently there has been an insurgence of nonviolent politically charged activist movements within the UK (Piper 86: Olcese 27). Such nonviolent practices have taken the form of acts of artistic expression,

For my 'Graffiti Name Piece' I was inspired by the many different variations of street art especially those who incorporated bubble and wild style text but also jumbled the letters differentiating from capital or lowercase into their artworks not only that but lettering that had curves rather than straight lines. I was not a fan of the block letter style as I thought it was a bit plain and in my head, I could not see it become apart of my final graffiti name piece. Below are some pieces of street art which influenced my final graffiti name piece.

The history of the Situationist movement is critical into understanding how street art can be used as a political weapon to enact social change. Like Banksy, the Situationists believed in superseding art, which abolishes the notion of art as a separate, specialized activity and transforms it into the cultural fabric of everyday life. Street art accompanies an element of surprise and culture shock because it can appear anywhere. People do not have to visit a museum or gallery to see art. Moreover, he adopts the Situationist’s methods of detournement, which is the act of taking an existing form of media and creating a new piece of art with a different message behind it. In particular, Banksy’s Les Misérables' mural is a representative form of deceptive detournement, which takes an intrinsically significant element and places it into a new context. Tear gas surrounds her and the French flag is torn to signify the values of liberty and freedom being destroyed. This is one of several Banksy’s murals that are reminiscent to the Syrian refugee

Throughout the history of socially engaged art, Rick Lowe’s Project Row Houses can be regarded as one of the most successful projects in exemplifying how art and community can be unified together to incite social change. Founded in 1993, Project Row Houses has managed to revitalize a marginalized population in Houston and subsequently provided a collective space to instigate dialogues between artists and residents of Third Ward. Although such community-art projects are not uncommon in today’s society, the intention of collaborating with disenfranchised communities have been a long-debated question among art critics and members of the public. Since the beginning of 20th Century, these works of art have been given different titles such as participatory art, community art and activist art which falls under the umbrella term “social practice”. Inspired by early avant-garde movements such as Conceptualism, Fluxus, Dada, these forms of interventions have seen an increase in the number of artists working outside the confines of the traditional museum and creating works that liberate art from its aesthetic framework. Therefore in this essay, an in-depth analysis of socially engaged

Overnight a paste up, created by Baby Guerrilla, has been placed on a wall in West Footscray. As a member of the arts committee, I contend that this piece of art shall remain, but not be sustained. It is undeniable that street art is a prominent part of Melbourne’s culture. A vital component of street art is the fact that it is impermanent. This is one of the countless factors that separates it from traditional art featured in studios, museums, and homes. Street art holds the purpose to be seen then and there, therefore its removal or sustainment would defeat this purpose.

During the 1970’s, New York City faced a fiscal crisis that brought it to the brink of bankruptcy resulting in severe budget cuts for many of its assets (Dunstan, p.g. 1). The budget reduction of public transportation and its security resulted in the birth of a deep culture that that seemingly replaced the void that was left behind. The empty subways turned into glimmering canvases for those who wanted a form of expression. What started out as simple name taggings turned into a voice for society’s mutes. Despite being constantly at odds with the law, the community stood together and graffiti evolved into a more law abiding and more accepted variation of what it originally was. Despite its evolution and recognition, it has been constantly denounced as mere vandalism rather than a form of art. Graffiti is art because it is the purposeful arrangement of elements for aesthetic appeal, can be used for the purpose of illustrative mimesis, and is a visual form of creative activity.

Banksy’s glum artwork portrays how many of us feel forced to give up our dreams. People never pursuing them due to financial burdens or other hardships. In Banksy’s picture the man seems very melancholy and low on income and the “cancelled” sign in bold letters knowing that he cannot complete his dreams. This may serve as a wake up call for those of us who’ve been asleep. This picture wants people to not give up on their dreams even if they are going through hard times because that’s what makes a dream, you have to go through bumps in the road to complete the dream. That is what life is about it won’t be an easy task to do but you have to pass it to complete your dreams. Ultimately, we should follow our dreams, regardless of outside discouragement

The nature of Banksy’s work is iconoclastic in the way he blatantly designs images to rebel governmental authority or depict the failings of

The English street artist Banksy has produced various works of art, in a revolutionary style. Street art is visual and it is produced in public areas on buildings, bridges , concrete , and many other places. This form of art is usually done illegally, which adds to the immense controversy it already possesses, due to its subject matter. With that being said, it speaks volumes about artists such as Banksy, who risk criminal charges of vandalism, in order to empower others through his art. One of his popular pieces, “Looters”, historically commemorated the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, boldly criticizing government, media, racism and other significant issues. In 2005, the city became a war zone and many were left with questions; the image poetically raised awareness to aspects of post-Katrina recovery that are still being discussed till this day. For the short time it existed as an untampered image on Elysian Fields Avenue, it managed to create a lasting impression that will exist decades after its removal.

Banksy is a very renowned street artist who keeps his identity unknown. His artwork is portrayed by “striking images, often combined with slogans, [which] engages political themes, satirically critiquing war, capitalism, hypocrisy and greed” (“Banksy Biography”). He first started his bold street art in Bristol, his hometown located in London, but quickly spread to the United States of America. In the U.S., Banksy targeted the most populated cities; this was due to the fact that it was easier for him to spread his messages. With a crowded location, his lessons will extent over an audience much quicker.