“Art is an evolutionary act. The shape of art and its role in society is constantly changing. At no point is art static. There are no rules.� - Raymond Salvatore Harmon. BOMB: A Terrorism.
Manifesto
of
Art
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ver the past decade the presence of street art has exploded onto walls, alleyways, and billboards all over the world. Slowly, street art becoming recognised as a valid artform, but it is still at the forefront of much scrutiny and debate. Is it an art-form? Or is it vandalism? The answer to that question lies within the eye of the beholder; street art is beautiful, but only if we personally perceive it that way. Artwork that could be classed as street art has been found throughout history. However, this publication will focus on the modern street art movement and its evolution from typographic graffiti. Despite its introduction to modern society, street art is still largely misunderstood. Specifically, it is the older generation who cannot quite grasp the idea of illegally produced work becoming an art-form. However, since the work of artists such as Banksy has been introduced into mainstream culture,street art has become one of the most collectable, sought after art forms. Street art is predominantly produced in cities, as urban culture is common and work can achieve more public exposure. However, as people who live outside of cities and towns rarely have a chance to see street art, when they do encounter it, it is usually dismissed as vandalism. This book will act as an introduction to modern street art and inform and educate people about its importance to contemporary society. Furthermore, it will also provoke people who would usually dismiss street art as vandalism, to understand and accept the benefits and beauty of the street art practice.
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FORMS OF GRAFFITI HAVE BEEN FOUND THROUGHOUT HUMAN HISTORY, SOME OF THE OLDEST ART KNOWN TO MANKIND WAS FOUND PAINTED INSIDE A CAVE. FURTHERMORE, MESSAGES HAVE ALSO FOUND SCRIBED INTO PILLARS AND WALLS IN THE CITY OF POMPEII, WHICH WAS COMPLETELY COVERED IN VOLCANIC ASH IN 79AD. ACTING AS A FREE FORM OF SELF-EXPRESSION, GRAFFITI HAS ALWAYS BEEN USED TO VOICE COMMON OPINIONS THAT WOULD OFTEN GO UNHEARD.
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Street art can be defined as any art that is developed in a public place, meaning that the term is very broad and can be applied to a range of different works. Street art takes many different forms which are dictated by the artist and their specific style. Some artists prefer to create work using only cans of spray-paint, other artists use techniques that experiment with different media such as tiles, stickers, posters, mosaic, knitted wool and even projected light. The possibilities created with such a wide range of media really are endless, and this is reflected in the variety of work produced.
The topic of public art is highly debated; some people see street art as vandalism and the destruction of private property, whereas others see street art as a form of self-expression. Any piece of work that is created on public or private property without permission is vandalism. In the eyes of the law the artist responsible is a criminal. Despite this, many of the artists hailed by society
as revolutionary, socially aware artists create work illegally. The art-form is associated with vandalism as it is derived from graffiti. The graffiti scene is renowned for having artists who focus on causing damage to property as a direct attack on the government or corporations. Unfortunately, many people class the two art-forms as the same thing, and so street art is often ignored or dismissed. It needs to be made clear that these two art-forms, although similar are completely different. 8
In New York during the 1970’s a revolution happened that would come to define the street art and graffiti scene that exists today. Evolving out of the hip-hop culture, youths began to tag certain names or numbers using spray paint, this kick started a progression which saw a variety of different styles emerge over the coming decades.
Most work that was produced was purely typographic, experimenting with letter shape, form and colour. The hip-hop culture started to gain popularity around the world, and with it travelled the introduction of graffiti into many modern cultures. Graffiti first came to England in the 1980’s, an artist called ‘Futura 2000’ came over from America with rock group ‘The Clash’, it was his job to paint backdrops for the band live on stage. While in London, Futura2000 painted the first piece in England, in Westway London. Soon after the introduction of this piece, the UK graffiti scene blew up, with small tags and pieces appearing everywhere. As the graffiti scene progressed artists started experimenting with different methods of production, artists started using stencils instead of tagging freehand to save
time when creating work, this is beneficial when working illegally as speed is vital to the successful creation of the piece. One of the first street artists to start utilizing stencils was French born ‘Blek Le Rat’, he created a series of small rat stencils which he sprayed all over Paris. Furthermore, artists involved in the graffiti scene started to move away from the restrictive typographic boundaries, producing work that no longer featured letters but instead experimented with colour and image. Evidence of this progression can be seen across a range of ‘She1’s’ work. Known for the graphic styled patterns that he produces for clothing company ‘Addict’, She1’s work shows how artists started to move away from the basic typographical forms found in graffiti. By pushing the limitations of letter form She1 created wild,unrefined patterns that evidence the development from graffiti to street art.
The art form was born out of alphanumeric graffiti. However, since its development street art has pulled influence from a large variety of creative influences. Moving away from the limitations of graffiti meant that artists had a lot more freedom with media and what could be produced. Modern
street art stands as a testament to this, as artists use different forms of media for specific pieces. Artists such as ‘D-face’ and ‘Obey’ use anything and everything to make their mark and communicate their message, from stickers to huge installation pieces, there really is no limitation as to what can be produced or how.
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Despite street arts emergence as an accepted new form of art, the vast majority of people saw it as graffiti and nothing else. It was not until recently the art-form started to become an accepted part of modern society. This transformation of public opinion was fuelled by a greater understanding of street art, which was exposed to the public through the media. At the forefront of this media attention was renowned street artist ‘Banksy’. Banksy is a Bristol born artist who grew up influenced by the typographic graffiti of the 1970’s and 80’s. However, after spending a long night under a dumper truck after almost getting caught painting a train, Banksy decided to speed up his painting time by using stencils. As his work developed he started addressing social and political issues, using stencils to quickly render imagery that cleverly communicated his message in an understandable way. Banksy’s quirky, politically motivated work got him noticed by the meida, who started printing various articles on the street artist. What followed was a surge of media attention which would come to change the public opinion of street art. The media exposure of Banksy’s work introduced a lot of people to the concept of street art, which sparked debates across the UK. There were and still are divided opinions on the topic, some people see street art as vandalism and nothing else, whereas others see it as one of the purest art forms available today. Whatever your opinion, since the media exposure of Banksy and other similar street artists the popularity of the art-form has grown at an exponential rate. A recent media example of this was the publicised disagreement between Banksy and Robbo, a renowned oldschool London graffiti artist. The disagreement was publicised after Banksy painted over one of the first pieces Robbo ever painted in London, over twenty-five years ago. Painting over such an iconic piece shocked the graffiti community which in turn caused a media response. Such disagreements are lapped up by the public, as they give a small insight into the secret world of street art they know nothing about.
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The majority of street art is produced within the City, as the urban environment provides the perfect setting in which a piece of work can be created. Vast blank walls offer artists the perfect canvas upon which to create a piece. However, there are many definitive factors that affect where artists chose to produce their work. Firstly, when looking for a location to create a work artists will be often be scouting for walls that will be exposed to the public during the day. Unless they specifically want to create the piece in a secret location or warehouse, exposure is an important factor that artists need to consider. Pieces of street art are usually created
to interact with the public. However, this will not be achieved if the piece of work is in a place where nobody can see it. The best spots are often found just outside the city centre, here the work is exposed to the public but the areas in which it is created are not as surveilled. These parts of the city act as havens for street artists, as they provide the perfect atmosphere to create work in. An example of this sort of location can be found in London, the city centre exhibits a rich variety of modern architecture but barely any street art can be found. However, just outside of the city centre in areas such as Shoreditch a large quantity of street art ranging in styles can be found.
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A lot of street art is produced on walls without the property owners permission, this is an illegal offence, and is classed is vandalism. Therefore, unless an artist is creating a commissioned piece of work, they need to assess the risks involved in creating the piece. Once the artist has chosen a location to produce a piece of work they must decide if they can access the spot, and successfully produce their work while avoiding detection from members of the public, CCTV cameras and the authorities. If spotted, the artist could be captured, fined or even imprisoned, so avoiding detection is very important. This is why artists choose to produce work outside of the city centre, as there is less surveillance to detect them. When choosing a location an artist will often review the surrounding area, checking for cameras or places they could be spotted from. The more renowned artists will even plan routes to avoid all CCTV cameras approaching and leaving the targeted spot. Once all factors have been assessed the artist will decide whether or not the location is suitable. Working in this manor means that street artists will often see a side of the city nobody else will see.
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An idea that fuels a lot of renowned street artists is today is the concept of getting members of the public to look at the city in a new way, or to get them to explore parts of the city they would usually overlook. An artist that follows these concepts is Invader; he uses mosaic tiles, concrete and an adhesive to stick his work high on buildings and walls. The array of colour featured in his pieces grabs your attention, attracting your eyes up to the pieces location. Invader uses his work as a way of focusing public focus on parts of the city that often go unnoticed. Moreover, Invader also plays with the idea of getting people to explore the city. Creating works in multiple locations across the city evokes people to explore and find them.
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Another concept that drives a lot of street art forward is how the artist’s work interacts with the city environment. Often artists work at trying to build a relationship between their work and the street, with their art acting as a way of injecting colour and fun into an otherwise dull and monotonous setting. Most cities are dominated by a pallet of greys and browns, formed by the hues of concrete and brick. Colourful works are created by artists as a way of countering the dull colours produced by the city. Recently, an artist called ‘Faunagraphic’ created a huge colourful mural in Manchester’s northern quarter. The piece playfully illustrates a common blue tit, a garden bird found throughout Britain. The mural was painted on a huge brown brick wall, which previously would have been a big contributor to the dull city colours. Now transformed, the wall is vibrant and interesting, grabbing the attention and turning the heads of everyone who passes it by.
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Street art acts as one of the strongest forms of ungoverned communication in modern society, the main stream media is corporately owned and regulated, meaning that stories are often changed or manipulated. All the information that we receive is filtered and controlled. The reason that people are aware of these problems is because of unregulated sources of information, such as the internet, independent news and street art. Street art is a powerful form of communication because of its ability to communicate unregulated messages to a wide audience. Street art could be comparable to advertising,with its large billboards and signs exposing company slogans to people, in an attempt to sell you something you probably have no need for. However, street art is not trying to sell you anything, but instead is giving you a small insight into the mind of an artist. Typical messages communicated cover topics regarding politics, society and culture, highlighting the problems of the world in an attempt to wake people up and provoke change. Everybody knows about the world’s problems but not
everybody wants to think or face them. Street art acts as a way of reminding the masses that these problems exist, and will continue to exist whether they are ignored or not. Such works are created as a direct response to difficulties or events encountered by an artist. Described as ‘the voice of the streets’ the messages are often raw, and cover topics that the majority of society can relate to. Our world is not perfect, and this is reflected in the street art and graffiti created in each country. If you ever wanted to know the truth about the problems within a state, simply assessing the street art and graffiti sprawled along the walls of the city would be a good way to find out.
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A large percentage of street art is politically motivated; problems with the government and politics are often the focus of many artists. Banksy, a street artist from Bristol, England is renowned for his politically charged stencil pieces. Some of his recent work has attacked authoritive figures, and highlighted world problems regarding starvation and capitalism. Street art enables artists to expose the problems in a visually engaging way, meaning that people are more likely to absorb their content and message. Furthermore, tone of voice is also crucial to the communication of the pieces intended message. Different tones of voice are used by different artists, some use serious shocking imagery in their work, while others such as Banksy inject their pieces with humour and sarcasm, acting as a way of indirectly getting the audience to think about the pieces meaning. With such an exponential rise in popularity, and with obvious benefits to society, anyone would have thought that the government would have relaxed the laws around street art. However, giving artists the freedom to express themselves fundamentally gives the artists power the government don’t want them to have. Not only can they not profit from or tax graffiti, they can’t regulate it. Therefore, it could be used as a tool against them, advertising the truths they don’t want people to see. So, instead they try to control it by designating specific locations where work can be created, out of sight and out of mind. Unfortunately, what they don’t know is that street art and graffiti can’t be regulated, as this takes away the essence of why work is created in the first place. Artist will continue to create work illegally, even if new measures are put in place to control the movement.
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One benefit street art has when compared to other art forms and media is its ability to be universally understood, as many of the messages are communicated using only imagery. This helps surpasse the language barrier that stops most media from being understood globally, as the message is communicated through a medium you can understand no matter where you are from. This gives street art considerable power as a form of commination, but only if it is seen. Getting exposure is crucial to the pieces success; if the work not seen then its messages will not be communicated. A good choice of location helps the artwork get seen by people passing by, and a well thought out piece will help people understand its message quickly. However, with the help of modern technology such as digital cameras, computers and the internet getting the piece exposed is no longer a problem, they enable artists to be document work and upload images of it to the internet where the piece can be seen globally. With this street art becomes an influential form of media, as artists can now disseminate their message on a global scale.
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Street art is a global sensation, since developing out of typographic graffiti the art form has become one of the most popular in modern society. It has the ability to communicate unregulated messages to a wide audience while aesthetically engaging them at the same time. Moreover, street art aims to interact with an audience, whether this is to communicate a message or to simple make a stranger smile depends on the artist, but audience interaction is always one of the most important and constant factors that can be found throughout all street art. The relationship shared between the viewer and the piece is one of the reasons the art form is so popular, not only are the pieces aesthetically engaging, but they evoke people to explore the city and see their surroundings in a new light, in turn creating a relationship between the viewer, city and artwork. Despite its obvious social and economic benefits, a small number people still disagree with the concept of street art and see it as vandalism, not a form of free self-expression. This sort of view is usually formed due to a lack of understanding of the art from and an association with vandalism. Regardless of the negative opinions street art is continually moving forwards, supported by books and the media a greater public understanding of the art form is slowly becoming apparent. What the future holds for street art is anyone’s guess, but if it continues to develop and gain popularity the way it has done in the past ten years, it could become one of the definitive art movements of the future.
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MANCHESTER NORTHERN QUATER
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LONDON SHOREDITCH
“Some people become cops because they want to make the world a better place. Some people become vandals because they want to make the world a better looking place.� - Banksy Wall and Piece