Street art

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Street art is any art developed in public spaces — that is, "in the streets" — though the term usually refers to art of an illicit nature, as opposed to government sponsored initiatives. The term can include traditional graffiti artwork, stencil graffiti, sticker art, wheatpasting and street poster art, video projection, art intervention, guerrilla art, flash mobbing and street installations. Typically, the term Street Art or the more specific Post-Graffiti is used to distinguish contemporary public-space artwork from territorial graffiti, vandalism, and corporate art.

Owl, Mezer, Moss. Venice Beach, Ca.
Owl, Mezer, Moss. Venice Beach, Ca.

The motivations and objectives that drive street artists are as varied as the artists themselves. There is a strong current of activism and subversion in urban art. Street art can be a powerful platform for reaching the public, and frequent themes include adbusting, subvertising and other culture jamming, the abolishment of private property and reclaiming the streets. Other street artists simply see urban space as an untapped format for personal artwork, while others may appreciate the challenges and risks that are associated with installing illicit artwork in public places. However the universal theme in most, if not all street art, is that adapting visual artwork into a format which utilizes public space, allows artists who may otherwise feel disenfranchised, to reach a much broader audience than traditional artwork and galleries normally allow.

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[edit] Techniques

Whereas traditional graffiti artists have primarily used free-hand aerosol paints to produce their works,[1] "street art" encompasses many other media and techniques such as wheatpasting, stickers, stencil graffiti, mosaic tiling, video projection and street installations.

Traditional graffiti also has increasingly been adopted as a method for advertising; its trajectory has even in some cases led to its artists' working on contract as graphic artists for corporations.[2] Street art is a label often adopted by artists who wish to keep their work unaffiliated, and strongly political. Street artists are those whose work is still largely done without official approval in public areas.

For these reasons street art is sometimes considered "post-graffiti" and sometimes even "neo-graffiti".[3] Street art can be found around the world and street artists often travel to other countries foreign to them so they can spread their designs.

[edit] Street Artists

Street artists such as Banksy, D*Face, Cease, Swoon, Twist, Revs, 108, Ellis Gallagher, Neck face and Os Gemeos have earned international attention for their work and in turn migrated the showing of their works to the museum or gallery setting as well as the street. It is also not uncommon for street artists to achieve commercial success Shepard Fairey, Faile, WK Interact, Kaws and Buff monster) doing graphics for other companies or starting their own merchandising lines.

[edit] Key Locations

Melbourne (Australia) is home to some of the world's best street art (see Melbourne street art). There are a number of important sites across the Central Business District (CBD). One of the most colourful being Hosier Lane near Federation Square & Canada Lane in Carlton. Both boosting some of Australia's finest street art.

Sao Paulo in Brazil is generally viewed as one of the capitals of street art. The lively and colourful atmosphere of the city is reflected in the street art scene, quickly evolving into one of the biggest and best in the world, drawing in many artists from around the world to collaborate.

Berlin (Germany) has attracted attention to international street artists since the reunification of the city making it one of Europe's street art strongholds. A lot of bizarre post-communist locations, cheap rents and ramshackle buildings gave rise to a vibrant street art scene. Hotspots there are Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain.

However many cities are plastered with the scrawls and writing of these artists, any wall is a target, any wall is a canvas.

[edit] Gallery

East Side Gallery, Berlin

Sprayed stencil and tags, Berlin

Feliz 1984, Berlin

Paste-up, Berlin

Wheatpasting a stenciled version of Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam in France.

Faux air vent attached to building by artist Skewville; it says FAKE

Art by 108 in Zaragoza, Spain.

Charcoal wall drawing by Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada[4] in Barcelona, Spain.

Poster by Artist Hannibal Vector.

Shop shutters by London street artist Eine.

"Cutout" by Artist KarlToon in Leipzig, Germany

Padangbai, Bali, Indonesia.

Mural in Austin, Texas, United States.

James Brown in el Rastro, Madrid.

Serge Gainsbourg in Marseille, France.

Frank Zappa memorial. Vilnius, Lithuania.

Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia.

Stencil in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Graffiti by Neva Micheva in Sevilla, Spain (2004).

Christer Pettersson by Stockholm based street artist Hop Louie.

Frankfurt, Germany.

A stenciled pair of doves by artist Q.

Wheatpaste by Iranian street artist Alone, in Tehran, Iran.

Queens, New York City, United States.

Brick Lane in London, England.

Meterpop installation by Mark Jenkins.

Santa Barbara, California, United States.

Sticker in Cologne, Germany.

Sticker in Hamburg, Germany.

Graffiti by Most misha in Saint petersburg, Russia (2007).

[edit] References

  1. ^ For the development of style in this medium, as well as an examination of the political, cultural, and social commentary of its artists, see the anthropological history of New York subway graffiti art, Getting Up: Subway Graffiti in New York, by Craig Castleman, a student of Margaret Mead, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1982.
  2. ^ As just one example, note the Bronx-based group Tats Cru, whose members began as a subway graffiti crew, but whose work covers traditional neighborhood memorial walls, public schools, hospitals, representation at the Smithsonian Institute's 35th Folk Arts Festival, and also logo and advertising design for such corporations as Snapple and McDonald's. Some of their work can be found on their website, <www.tatscru.com>.
  3. ^ "Neo-graffiti" is a term coined by Tokion Magazine in the title of its Neo-Graffiti Project 2000, which featured "classic" subway graffiti artists working in new media; others have called this phenomenon "urban art." A discussion by the Wooster Collective on terminology can be found at <http://www.woostercollective.com/2004/01/what_the_hell_should_we_call_i.html>.
  4. ^ Jorge Rodriguez Gerada - artjammer.com

[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Graffiti

[edit] Further reading

  • Street Art in Berlin. ISBN 978-3-89773-579-8 Street art examples from Berlin
  • PEEL: The Art of the Sticker by Dave & Holly Combs. Mark Batty Publisher (2008). ISBN 0979554608
  • Claudia Walde: Sticker City: Paper Graffiti Art (Street Graphics / Street Art). Thames & Hudson, 2007. ISBN 978-0500286685
  • Street Art by Allan Schwartzman, The Dial Press, 1985
  • Street Logos by Tristan Manco. Thames and Hudson (2004). ISBN 0500284695
  • Stencil Graffiti by Tristan Manco. Thames and Hudson (2002). ISBN 0500283427
  • Beautiful Losers: Contemporary Art and Street Culture by Christian Strike and Aaron Rose. Distributed Art Publishers, Aug 2005. ISBN 1933045302
  • Street Renegades: New Underground Art by Francesca Gavin. Laurence King Publishers (2007). ISBN 9781856695299
  • The Art Of Rebellion: The World Of Street Art by Christian Hundertmark. Gingko Press (2005). ISBN 9781584231578
  • The Art Of Rebellion 2– World of Urban Art Activism by Christian Hundertmark. Gingko Press (2006). ISBN 9783980990943