Vandalism or street art?

Graffiti as art

Any passerby in an metropolitan area has encountered the colourful, exasperating, illegal “eyesore” that is graffiti. In spite of the fact that many consider these spray-painted pieces a bother; as the time passes graffiti has been gaining more and more recognition from the world of art - making it more legitimate than ever before. It has began to find it’s place in art galleries, exhibitions and museums. City streets have become gallery walls for these urban art displays.

The universal type of graffiti, known to mostly everyone, are “tags” or a stylized writing of someone’s name placed somewhere inconvenient. While these are the most popular forms, graffiti and street art is much more than that. Street art is any art developed in public places - this term usually includes traditional graffiti artwork, as well as: stencil graffiti, sticker art, wheatpasting and street poster art, video projection, art intervention, guerrilla art, flash mobbing and street installations.

It can mean a rich in colour painting with a message of diversity; or a black and white stencil piece referring to police brutality. In most of the cases, graffiti art makes a statement.

Shepard Fairey, Invader, Tracy 168, Taki 183

Examples of known street art artists and their pieces.

Banksy, Jerusalem, 2003.

Banksy is an anonymous England-

based graffiti artist, political activist

and film director of unverified

identity. His satirical street art and

subversive epigrams combine dark

humour with graffiti executed in a

distinctive stenciling technique. This

appeared in Jerusalem in 2003 and

is perhaps one of Banksy’s most

well-known pieces. To many people it is a symbol of peace and hope in the face of adversity

and destruction. The masked rioter is throwing not a “Molotov Cocktail” but a bunch of

flowers and the image was featured heavily in Banksy’s 2005 book entitled “Wall and Piece”.

This piece is believed to refer to a gay pride that took place in Jerusalem 2005, which was

attacked by homophobic protesters and resulted in three people getting stabbed and many

other injured. It could be a response to the parade, as the rioter/protester is in black and

Vandalism or street art?

white (using negative space); the flowers are multicolored (symbolic of the gay pride flag),

and significantly stand out from the image. This image could be Banksy’s reply to those

events, or it could be inspired by the violent uproar in the middle east - as we know Banksy

is a pacifist and anti-war, therefore this image could be inspired by number of events. This

design was created using a multi-layered stencil and spray paint, however, there are many

other ways in which you can produce your own street art. Banksy focuses on the stencil

work since it's so quick and easy to produce,

Invader is the pseudonym

of a French urban artist,

born in 1969, whose work is

modelled on the crude

pixelation of 1970s–1980s

8-bit video games. He took

his name from the 1978

arcade game “Space

Invaders”, and much of his

work is composed of square

ceramic tiles inspired by video game characters. Although he prefers to remain incognito,

and guards his identity carefully, his distinctive creations can be seen in many highly-visible

locations in more than 65 cities in 33 countries. He documents each intervention in a city as

an "Invasion", and has published books and maps of the location of each of his street

mosaics.

People have very different views of street art. Some people condemn it, while others

condone it. But it is without question illegal, according to laws such as New York City’s 10-

117 subdivision, which states: “No person shall write, paint or draw any inscription, figure or

mark of any type on any public or private building or other structure . . . unless the express

permission of the owner or operator of the property has been obtained” (New York City 1).

Many people believe that street art and graffiti fall into the same category, that they are one

in the same. However, they could not be more wrong. In his article, "Artist Driven Initiatives

for Art Education: What We Can Learn From Street Art," G. James Daichendt explains that

“graffiti, by definition is a text-based art form that involves writing one’s name or the name of

something important to the artist on a public surface” (7). He goes on to note that “street art

is less concerned with letters but emphasizes the visual image, contextual use of space, and

uses a wider range of materials that extend beyond the spray can” (Daichendt 7). This

important distinction he makes between graffiti and street art shows how the two are

Vandalism or street art?

fundamentally different. While graffiti is used to broadcast sometimes crude words to the

world, street art is more carefully planned, more artistic, and often times displays a message

for the general public. Graffiti for the sake of writing a name or phrase on a building should

be illegal, because it adds to the grunge of the city, displaying a look of anarchy and

unlawfulness. Street art, on the other hand, does not exhibit these unruly characteristics.

Though people can argue that such art is vandalism, it can nevertheless add to the artistic

appeal of a city and connect the city to nature. As a result, street art creates a happier, more

productive community.

In addition to the subject or medium of the art being natural, the act of creating street art brings artists out of their studios and onto the streets into nature ⎯itself. For example, a New York elementary school used sidewalk chalk to decorate the sidewalks all the way around their school with pictures of what they learned about in class, specifically natural things. The entire school chipped in, once again exemplifying how street art can bring people together and get them outside (Hershenson 1). The art brought beauty to the mundane sidewalks, at least until the next rain. This and other works of street art bring admirers and viewers out into nature. Instead of paying to visit an art gallery, the public can wander the streets and get some fresh air while enjoying local artwork free of charge.