The world is being swept up in a new artistic frenzy that brings color and culture to the streets of cities. It goes by many names, such as guerilla art, urban art, or neo-graffiti, but it is ultimately known as street art. Street art is now becoming a very prominent way for artists to show their opinions of the world and politics, and also gives the artist a public place to show their talent. It may not be a very old form of art, but art of its kind is beginning to be recognized around the world. There is a very large debate about whether certain kinds of street art may be considered vandalism and graffiti, or artistic and decorative. Regardless, street art is the voice of a generation that depicts many of the different life styles of the …show more content…
During the graffiti boom in the 1960’s and 1970’s, New York became a central hub for urban art. Many teenagers used this form of art to express their emotions about their society. The movement then peaked in the 1980’s when the quickly painted tags soon became thought out projects. Instead of free-handing the project, people began to use stencils to create sharper and cleaner looking pictures. These were critical turning points where the art soon became a battle for a meaning and started a movement. At the time, the art was extremely controversial. Most of the pieces that were created were considered illegal and vandalism. The creation of street art simply came from the destruction of property. Consequently, because street art was considered a new art and vandalism, artists struggled to show their work to the world. Without social media to broadcast their work throughout the internet, their work stayed on the walls where they were made because no one wanted to document it. Thankfully, there were a select few photographers that decided that they would devote their career to documenting the progression and art of street artist. One photographer that has been photographing street art and culture for over 40 years, is Martha Cooper. Her work aided in bringing fame to the street art culture and eventually brought her fame. With her photography, street art began to make an impression on the art world because the photographer
Graffiti has been used many times in history to preserve and show political and religious ideas of the past. Street artists are preserving the history that is deemed “illegal” at this time. Graffiti itself is history, and it tells stories as well as preserving cities and adding a creative aspect to everyday life. The “...first forms of scripture and storytelling … were through drawings on walls. Stories passed through generations… were preserved on rocks or walls.” (Lloyd, Alexis). Now street artists are simply doing the same, whether it’s murals, tags, or people just messing around; They are preserving the unique cultures that we have today, or trying to make a name for themselves through art, or portray a political message. 85% of graffiti is just tags. (Akbar, Airfa). People's names or words made to look interesting. People trying to preserve their name through art. And this is considered a crime. Splashing your political views on a building through a mural to some people is offensive and the fact that this is illegal is a violation of the 1st amendment. Making graffiti or street art illegal is limiting an expression of people's ideas and religion.
Graffiti has been around for more than half a decade and practiced worldwide. However there is debate between whether it is a form of art or vandalism. Graffiti artists’ debate that many do not understand the reason most graffiti artist take the risk of incarceration, fines, injuries, and in some cases death to paint a wall. A graffiti artist can have the simple desire to become recognized, or to create a piece that speaks to their audience as a form of self expression. Because graffiti is associated with gangs and acts of destruction to some many cannot see the history and importance graffiti can have on a worldwide scale. Due to the fact that graffiti is usually produced illegally, meaning it is
Another reason why people engage in graffiti is to shape their identities. They wish to leave a mark in a permanent environment exclaiming to the rest of the world that they exist, that even though their voices may be lost before politicians, parent, and peers they are real and the spraypaint is proof of this. This form of graffiti is easily passed off as mere vandalism and considered an annoyance to our society but when viewed with more compassion, it becomes clearer how important of an outlet this form of graffiti is. Especially for today’s youth (a generation that often feels insignificant) it is psychologically important for them to have solid, material evidence of their own existence. Correlated with identity-based graffiti is another type called tagging. Tagging refers to types of graffiti that “range from stylized signature [tags] to mural-size [pieces] that elaborately blend fanciful script, cartoon characters and messages with the artist’s street name” (Beaty 43). This is a questionable form of expression for it does not actually exhibit a need for acknowledgment but rather a recreational engagement, an act of boldly testing the boundaries of the law in
“In contrast to government-commissioned public art, street art is illicit and subversive in nature. Therefore, most street artists, including Banksy, use pseudonyms to avoid legal prosecution for vandalism.”(Chung 27) Banksy’s street art does not focus on competing with rival artists, but focuses on engaging with a broader audience in a deeper level. He provokes his audience by deeply expressing out various social practices that helps viewers to reflect and confront certain aspects together as a community. (27) The underlying message of Banksy’s art can lead towards an active involvement of street art within the community.
If you walk through almost any city, the buildings, bridges, and any other available spaces are seemingly filled with colors, picture, and words that are not part of the original architecture. This graffiti, which is a mix of tags, stencils, pieces, and freestyle, seems to have almost taken over cities across the world. Some of this graffiti, such as tags, are eyesores, but some pieces, such as the High Line “Love Is the Answer” and “Kiss” murals in New York City, are sites that have become iconic pieces of artwork. Unfortunately, pieces like these are also starting to be covered to a seemingly astronomical rate, which is causing outrage among those who visited to them.
There are many different types of street art and murals that are part of any community. Street art and murals can give a voice or a cultural background to the community. Many types of cities have beautiful street art like Hollywood, within Hollywood there is a little community called Little Armenia. In this community there is a mural located on the side of Winona and Hollywood Boulevard. This mural is a symbol of what the Armenian Genocide was and because the mural is an area where Armenians and others walk from to go to the Turkish Embassy to fight for remembrance for the 1.5 million Armenians that have died on April 24. This mural shows us what the community is about and it brings the community higher and not lower.
Street art is a visual art created all over the streets, it can be present in a form of posters, graffiti, window paints, and murals, among others. All of those artists that chose to exhibit their art on the streets, rather than in a museum or gallery is because they are situated it in a non-art context. The products they use to produce their art works most of the time are: free hand aerosol paints, krink markers, plutonium paints and graffiti remover used to create perfect images all over the cities. Street art adorn the urban landscape, explode the skills of the artists, and finally but no less important, is constructive providing a specific social message for all the audience.
1.Street Art is visual created in public. In many places street art is considered to be illegal but in other places people and government services pay commission for them to express their feeing in the world or anything else.
While waiting for on a train, the mobile art museum known as graffiti passes you. Graffiti has been integrated into the everyday life regardless of city size or laws. By definition, graffiti is any type of writing or drawing scribbled, scratched or sprayed onto a surface in public. Freehanded graffiti has evolved into a premeditated version known as street art. Graffiti and street art allows artists worldwide to express themselves in their entirety. However, these forms of art are considered vandalism because the majority of graffiti is painted on buildings without permission. This causes debate on who owns public space, expressionism, and consent.
From the early humans who painted on cave walls to the angst-ridden teenager getting their kicks from spray painting profanities on the side of a small business, human beings seem to have an intrinsic desire to paint images on the walls that surround them. This has led to many individuals painting on walls without permission. Although the walls cannot speak, city officials and the owners of businesses can and when they do, “Graffiti” is usually one of the words used to describe the images produced. However, although often overlooked, a line does exist between graffiti and street art. Christine Graff writes “Graffiti is defined as ‘writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public
The importance of Public Art in communities stems from a place of creativity, voice and rebellion. All art is a form of communication whether it is street art or museum art. Artists make art to express and address their political views, mark the anniversary of something, tell a story, etc. Public art creates a sense of community in cities and towns because it reflects what the places believe in. Whether it is street art or museum art, most all humans admire what artists express because it is easily accessible and almost always demonstrates a story. Street artists such as “Blek Le Rat” and “Banksy” have used their talent to create urban art that reflects societal, political, and economic views along with a pinch of dark humour. These reflections
One form of art that contributes to this issue is graffiti. Street art is intended as a way for people to expand their creativity and express themselves in a completely different way than normal. It is important to know that street art is built upon the belief that, “to play in public spaces is to break the rules, to trespass one’s own emotions and sensibilities upon what is otherwise meant to be anonymous, functional and boringly quotidian” (Seno). In other words, it is a way for people to think outside of the box and in new
New York City in the 1970’s was the birthplace for an expression called graffiti. The artform known as graffiti was a way for artist much like myself to express themselves to the world using a painting, mural of their name, or characters. Leaving an anonymous work of art leaves the world wondering. The idea of art being spray painted on the side of subway cars and practically broadcasted to the world was profound. On the other hand, the state and city found graffiti as defacing property and vandalism; however, an artist like myself does not see it that way. Due to many hardships faced by communities on the streets of NYC most teenagers and adults see graffiti as a way to paint their town with their story. As far as vandalism goes, you can
Graffiti was once deemed as an empowering art form when it derived in the late 1960’s. It brought attention to many social and political issues through the use of various such as spray paint in urban places. As time
The origin and history of graffiti is not what one might expect. Believed to have been created by a Philadelphia high school student named Cornbread in 1967, it was a bold effort to catch the attention of a girl (De Melker). In this same time period, graffiti sprung up in New York as well. It was “one among many forms of social protest” during