Street Art
Street art is making an impact on society by spurring a movement that is creating social change in the world. The artists involved use street art as a forum to express themselves and make a statement about political, social, and economic issues to open society’s eyes. With the advent of the twenty-first century, street art has become popular and newsworthy with artists such Banksy who want to take their art to the next level. Street art began as rebellious acts, but now it has developed into a much bigger movement. Today, there are still controversial questions that revolve around the differences between street art and gallery art. To many it is evident that street art is considered art and not vandalism because of the history of the uprising of street art and the techniques and messages that street artists portray.
The Start of Street Art
Street art began as disobedient and defiant acts, but currently, it has developed into a prominent cultural movement. Street art began with gangs spraying graffiti on trains and walls, also referred to as guerrilla art, in New York City during the 1920s and 1930s. The popular way to use graffiti during this time was called “tagging”, which is when an artist would cipher their name onto a building or train cars. The use of the technique is a misconception since “tagging” is commonly known as vandalism. However, it allows artists to claim their ownership of their art. Soon people started using street art as an approach to have a voice, create social change, and sow the beginnings of a groundbreaking movement in history. During the 1970s and 1980s, street art started to make an impact on society and became sensational. Even though graffiti was an illegal activity, street art was viewed by some as true art.
Banksy
Banksy, an anonymous street artist from England, uses graffiti and stenciling to make strong statements about society. According to BBC News, “Banksy is known for teasing his audience, toying with authority, and continually pulling the wool over people’s eyes to stage unexpected stunts.” Banksy has made a definite impression on street art during his career and proves that street art is commercially equal to art in a gallery. In 2007, Banksy’s Space Girl and Bird was sold at an auction in London for $1.87 million and broke records for being sold for much more than its estimated value.
Water Light Graffiti
Another groundbreaking street artist, Antonin Fourneau, has created a technique that uses LED lights. Water Light Graffiti is a mural that is made up of thousands of LED lights that create images when exposed to moisture through touch or the stroke of a paintbrush. This technique to create graffiti is very new to the art world and lets the community interact with one other and with the art installation itself.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Another artist who is well-known in the street art world is Jean-Michel Basquiat, who created his first works of art under the name “SAMO.” Basquiat began creating graffiti street art in New York City during the 1970s by “tagging” buildings and subway trains. He was a Neo-Expressionist artist who became popular because he embraced pop culture with the use of vivid colors, interesting objects, and eye-catching motifs. Basquiat’s family was from Haiti and his mother suffered from a mental illness. Tragically, he was a heroin addict and died of an overdose at the age of twenty-seven years old. Through Basquiat’s art, it is visible that his life struggles relate to his artwork, especially questioning his identity through his ethnicity and drug addiction. The artwork of Basquiat can be examined differently by the viewer when aware of his struggles in life. Waldemar Januszcak states, “… it took five hundred years for a black artist to make an indelible mark on the international art world. I find it even more shocking that in order to make that mark Jean-Michel Basquiat had to be cast as a rambling neo-tribalist primitive.” Studying the work of various street artists like Basquiat allows people to become aware of how modern ideas have been used to create an awareness for desired societal changes.
The Art World vs. Street Art
In the art world, there are many issues pertaining to the controversy of street art and whether it should be viewed and valued the same as art in a gallery. Many people continue to debate if street art is true art or merely vandalism, and whether street art should accrue the same value as that of gallery art. The subject of street art is contentious, but there is evidence that street art is becoming as equally important as other types of art. For instance, street art can be used to publicly reveal social and political factors because other types of art do not have the viewership and impact to showcase relevant issues. The divide between street art and gallery art to some people is that artists who show artwork in galleries and museums have had years of training, while street artists are not educated in the arts. However, some street artists are against having their art displayed in galleries and museums and state that the purpose of their art is to be on the streets. On the other hand, some street artists have allowed their art to be shown publicly and sold at auctions. For example, Banksy uses his anonymity and radical attitude to illustrate his political artwork as a strategy to enhance pop culture. Recently, Banksy’s Girl with a Balloon was sold at an auction for $1.4 million, and within minutes of being sold, a device in the frame shredded the street art. Banksy used the long thought-out scheme as a way to advocate that he is against the selling of works of art. According to Scott Reyburn from the New York Times, “The prank was a brilliant comment on the art market…It’s a part of art history.” As seen throughout the past century and continuing into the 21st century, street art is a constantly evolving movement that is making an impression on how the world views the meaning of art.
Conclusion
Street art has made an impact throughout the world today because it is an avenue for artists to attract the public’s attention and inform them about topics that affect everyone. The initial viewpoint of street art was that it was an eyesore, but it has now flourished into a type of art that is as equally important as other forms of art. The artists and their techniques have expanded their ideas by creating new technology and methods to implement focus on social and political ideas. The history and growth of the street art movement provide evidence that it is not vandalism but a true form of art.
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